More students than ever before feel comfortable in sharing a disability or mental health condition when applying to university or college, new UCAS data has shown.
The 2023 cycle saw UCAS make a series of enhancements to the application experience of students, including the introduction of a range of new questions and improved collection of information about individual needs, such as a disability and mental health condition.
UCAS end of cycle data for 2023, published today (Thursday 7 December) shows the number of accepted UK applicants sharing a disability increased to 103,000 in 2023, up from 77,000 in 2022 (+33.8%) and 58,000 in 2019 (+77.5%). Those sharing a mental health condition rose to 36,000 this year compared to 22,000 last year (+63.6%) and 16,000 in 2019 (+125%). This could be due in part to fewer accepted students selecting ‘other’ when sharing their individual circumstances – 5,460 in 2023 versus 6,700 in 2022 (-18.5%).
The figures also reveal how many accepted UK applicants responded to at least one of the seven new questions: sharing circumstances such as receiving free school meals (60,410), having caring responsibilities (22,600), being estranged from their parents (11,295), having a parent in the UK Armed Forces (16,010), being a refugee or asylum seeker (7,300), having parenting responsibilities (21,690) or being a UK Armed Forces veteran (1,030).
