More students feel comfortable sharing a mental health condition or disability when applying to higher education, Ucas figures suggest.
The number of students in the UK accepted on to a university or college course who declared a disability or mental health condition in their Ucas application has increased to a record high, according to the university admissions service.
It comes after Ucas introduced new questions and improved the collection of information about individual needs, such as a disability and mental health condition, in its admissions process.
Sander Kristel, interim chief executive of Ucas, said the figures suggest the risk of students dropping out of university, or not meeting their potential due to a lack of awareness of needs, is “reducing”.
The university admissions service said its enhancements to the process help students to get the right support and flag their individual needs with their university or college choices earlier on.
The latest data from Ucas shows that the number of accepted UK applicants sharing a mental health condition rose to 36,000 this year compared with 22,000 last year (up 63.6%) and 16,000 in 2019 (up 125%).
Those sharing a disability increased to 103,000 in 2023, up from 77,000 in 2022 (up 33.8%) and 58,000 in 2019 (up 77.5%).
Ucas acknowledged the trend could be due in part to fewer students selecting “other” when sharing their individual circumstances during the application process – 5,460 did this in 2023, compared with 6,700 in 2022 (down 18.5%).
The end-of-cycle report also showed that the gap between the most and least disadvantaged students attending university has widened this year.
