The latest deadline data from June 30, UCAS’ final date to apply for up to five courses at the same time, shows there have been 94,870 applications to computing – up from 86,630 last year (+9.5%) and 71,150 in 2021 (+33.3%). This makes it the 7th most popular course, behind subjects allied to medicine (156,460 applications), biological and sports sciences (105,490), engineering and technology (96,180), social sciences (178,680), business and management (184,000), and design, creative and performing arts (126,310).
This has been driven by interest in computer science (+11% compared to 2022 and +35% on 2021), software engineering (+16% on 2022 and +45% on 2021), computer games and animation (+2% on 2022 and +28% on 2021) and artificial intelligence (+4% on 2022 and +16% on 2021).
For computing, there has also been an increase in the number of applications by UK 18-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds (POLAR 4 Quintile 1) – 11,870 this year, up from 11,110 in 2022 (+7%) and 8,320 in 2021 (+43%).
Overall, there have been 195,690 applications to computing (all ages, all domiciles) – up +9% on 2022 and +26% on 2021.
