Last week UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, released its end of cycle data for the 2024 applications round to UK higher education.
The UCAS release provides information on numbers of applications, offers and accepted applicants for degree subjects, including History.
This post looks at the number of accepted applicants for History, in 2024, and for UCAS annual cycles since 2019.
Trends for the past five years are provided for all accepted applicants, with further refinement by students’ age, gender and place of permanent residence. UCAS figures for applications and offers to study History, 2019-2024, are also provided for context at the end of the post.
Last week UCAS, the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, released its end of cycle data for the 2024 applications round. This release includes information on numbers of applications, offers and accepted applicants for degree subjects, including History, for those seeking entry to university from the academic year 2024-25.
This post looks at numbers of ‘accepted applicants’, in History, between 2019 and 2024. An accepted applicant is defined by UCAS as one ‘who, at the end of the cycle, has been placed for entry into higher education’, with the end of cycle for the current year being 30 June 2024.
UCAS end of cycle data also provides information on numbers of: i. applications; ii. applications to receive an offer; and iii. the proportion of applicants to receive an offer from a university. Figures for each of these three options are provided at the end of this post, for reference, and can be studied in greater detail via the UCAS dashboard. However, the main focus of this post is on numbers of, and trends for, ‘accepted applicants’.
1. What is UCAS end of cycle data?
It’s important to note that the figures presented in this post do not equate to the number of students beginning undergraduate courses in History in any given year. Instead, UCAS data covers ‘applicants and applications to courses recruited through UCAS.’ In addition: ‘In Scotland, there is a substantial section of provision, representing around a third of young full-time undergraduate study in Scotland, that is not included in UCAS’ figures. For people living in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, UCAS covers the overwhelming majority of full-time undergraduate provision.’
These caveats aside, annual UCAS end of cycle data does offer broad trends for accepted applicants to study History—refineable by gender, age, domicile and other attributes—and comparable with patterns for accepted applications for all subjects in UK higher education (Arts, Humanities and STEM) over the past five years.
Details of the end of cycle data for 2024 are available here with options to view ‘Applicants & acceptances’ or ‘Applicants & offers’: the following post uses figures for ‘Applicants & acceptances’ / ‘Number of accepted applicants’. Users may limit the data by a range of attributes. These include by academic subject: to do so, select ‘Subject Group – HECoS (detailed)’ via the ‘Show me …’ option.
HECoS stands for ‘Higher Education Classification of Subjects’ and is the categorisation for academic subject areas used by HESA (the Higher Education Statistics Agency).
There are three HECoS levels: ‘History’ is a Level 3 category (the most granular in the structure) and sits under Level 1: ‘Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies’, and Level 2 ‘History and Archaeology’. The UCAS end of cycle data provides application, offer and accepted applicant numbers for ‘History’ Level 3.
The remainder of this post considers trends in numbers of accepted applicants for History over the past five years. Further refinements and comparisons are provided to consider levels of acceptance by applicants’ age, gender and permanent place of residence (domicile).
2. Exploring the data: accepted applications in History, 2019-2024
The UCAS data provides numbers of applications and acceptances for degree places in History between 2019 and, now, 2024. The default setting shows application and acceptance rates for all students, though there’s also the option to refine this by, for example, applicants’ age.
Below are figures for all accepted applications in History (2019-24), followed by those for applicants aged 18, with both sets of figures shown as a table and as a chart (click on all charts and tables below to enlarge).
Between 2020 and 2024 the total number of accepted applicants in History declined by 7.1% Over the same five years, the enrolment rate for History at A-Level (covering England, Wales and Northern Ireland) rose by 5.3%. (For more on History A-Level figures for 2024 and trends, see this earlier post.)
The total number of accepted applicants in this period, for all subjects (Arts, Humanities and STEM) fell by 1.0%.
Between 2020 and 2024, accepted applicants for History, for students aged 18 years, rose by 0.1%
The total number of accepted applicants in this period, for students aged 18, for all subjects (Arts, Humanities and STEM), increased by 6.1%.
For comparison, the number of accepted applicants in History, for students aged 20 years and over, declined by 31% (1,385 to 955) between 2020 and 2024. For students aged 20 years and over, for all subjects (Arts, Humanities and STEM), the decline in accepted applicants was 6.8% for the same time period. Students aged 20 years or over account for 10 to 13% of all accepted applicants in History between 2020 and 2024.
The UCAS data may also be refined by student domicile. The number of accepted applicants in History for non-UK international students, 2020-24, declined by 17.2% (810 to 670): applicants who are EU students fell 50.7% (345 to 170) while the number of accepted applicants who are non-EU internationals rose in this period by 6.4% (465 to 495). Non-UK students account for 7 to 8% of all accepted applicants in History between 2020 and 2024.
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The above indicates that rates of increase in History A-Level enrolment (2020-24) are not being reflected in numbers of accepted applicants to study History at university. Indeed, numbers of accepted History applicants have fallen (by 7.1%) while remaining stable (+0.1%) for History among 18 year-old students who make up the great majority of those reflected in the A-Level enrolment figures.
Rates of decline for accepted applicants are considerably higher for History students aged 20 years and over, though the total numbers here are relatively small. The fall in accepted applicants from the EU from 2019 onwards, though small in absolute terms, is also notable.
In each case, History as a subject reflects wider patterns of increase or decline for all subjects in UK higher education, though for History levels of decrease are higher and those of increase lower.
3. Accepted applications in History, 2019-2024, by gender of applicant
Annual UCAS data for the number of applications, offers and accepted applicants may also be refined by gender, to show those students who choose to identify themselves as either male or female. The following table and chart show levels of accepted applications in History, 2019-2024, for all male and and all female students, followed by male and female students aged 18 years.
For all female students, the number of accepted applicants for History — 2020-2024 — has declined by 7.7%, compared with a 12.3% decline for all male students. Within this five year range, numbers of accepted female applicants are stable from 2022 onwards, while those for accepted male students have fallen more sharply from 2023. For the same period, the enrolment rate for female students taking History at A-Level rose by 1.71% while for male students History A-Level enrolments fell by 5.1%.
Between 2020 and 2024, numbers of accepted female applicants for all subjects (Arts, Humanities and STEM, all ages) declined by 5.1%; for all male students (all subjects) over the same period, the number of accepted applicants rose by 0.7%.
For female students aged 18 years, the number of accepted applicants in History — 2020-2024 — remains stable (-0.1%), compared with a 6.2% decline for male students aged 18 years. Again, there is growing divergence between numbers of female and male accepted applicants. From 2022, the number of female accepted applicants rises, while that for male begins to decline, accelerating from 2023.
Between 2020 and 2024, numbers for female students, aged 18, for all subjects (Arts, Humanities and STEM) rose by 3.6%; for male students, aged 18 (all subjects), over the same period, accepted applications rose by 4.9%.
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The above indicates that numbers of accepted applicants in History, for all students, are falling faster for male students, at all ages and at 18 years, than for female students.
The sharpest divergence is for students aged 18 years, where History rates for female students are constant against a 6.2% decline for male students, 2020-24. In 2020, female accepted applicants, aged 18, exceeded male applicants of the same age group by 615 students; by 2024 this had risen to 815. In 2024, female students comprised 56% of accepted applicants in History.
This suggests that — for male History students — the rate of decline in acceptances is greater than that for A-Level History enrolments; and that a decline in the number of accepted applicants in History is being led by choices made by male students.
4. What findings can we draw from the data?
The findings reveal an overall decline for History in the annual number of accepted applicants between 2019 and 2024. The sharpest decline took place between 2019 and 2020 after which numbers of accepted applicants are more stable, though with important variations.
Refining the data by attributes — such as applicants’ age, gender and domicile — shows numbers of accepted applicants in History to be relatively more stable for students aged 18 years, compared to percentage changes (albeit small in absolute terms) for those aged over 20 years where the decline in accepted applicants (2019-24) is more pronounced. A similar sharp decline is seen in accepted applicants for History from the EU, though again the absolute numbers are relatively small.
Rates of accepted applications do not reflect trends in A-Level enrolments (2020-24) which have risen.
Figures relating to the gender of accepted applicants, 2020-24 show a growing divergence between female and male applicants, with numbers of male accepted applicants falling, and falling faster, from 2022 onwards. Future work to ensure student enrolments at UK universities remain strong may therefore need to focus on decisions being taken by History A-Level students, and by male students especially.
5. History applications and offers in History: UCAS cycles 2019-2024
End of cycle data also provides updates of annual numbers for applications via UCAS to study History; the number of applications receiving offers from universities; and the annual percentage of applications receiving offers. The following tables summarise this data for all students and then, in turn, for all students aged 18, and male and female students aged 18.
For all applications to study History, the sharp decline seen previously for 2019-20 is replicated, with total numbers of applications relatively stable from 2020 onwards.
The number of applications made by 18 year old students is steady and rising slightly to 2024. The driver for this is an increase in applications by female students, which have risen between 2022 and 2024. At the same time, applications from male students have declined, replicating the divergence seen for numbers of accepted applicants.
In 2020, numbers of applications from female students exceeded those from male applicants by 3,410 students; by 2024 this had risen to 3,915. In 2024, female students accounted for 55% of all History applications submitted by 18 year old students.
After a marked decline in 2019-20, and again in 2021-22, the number of History applications to receive an offer has risen (2022-24) for all students and for students aged 18 years. As for other measures, 2023-24 has seen an increase in History applications, and History applications receiving offers, from female students aged 18, while those for male students of the same age have declined.
In 2020, numbers of applications receiving an offer — made by female students aged 18 — exceeded those made and received by male students of the same age group by 3,300 students; by 2024 this had risen to 3,850. In 2024, female students, aged 18 years, accounted for 55.5% of all History applications receiving an offer.
The proportion of all applications receiving an offer is higher in 2024 than for any previous year in the UCAS data. Aside from 2022, a consistently higher proportion of applications by female students, aged 18, result in offers when compared with the percentage for male students.
You may also be interested in
The Value of History in UK Higher Education and Society is the Society’s latest briefing (October 2024). This provides further consideration of the relationship between History A-Level numbers and enrolments in History at university.
The Society also has resources on Data for the UK Historical Discipline and Profession which offer the latest available data from external providers on staff and student numbers, graduate outcomes and other measures.
IMAGE HEADER: Credit: iStock photo: AlexLMX