Applications for places at De Montfort University are up 18 per cent over the corresponding date last year, the largest percentage rise for any university. It is followed by Warwick, Aston and Loughborough, which head the table of old universities.
According to figures released this week by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, universities in central England are attracting bumper numbers of applications.
Institutions specialising in art and design also appear to be doing well. Bournemouth and Poole, Reading and Cumbria colleges of art and design are among the five colleges to show the greatest increase in applications. The Liverpool Institute for the Performing Arts has seen its application numbers increase by almost a third.
Meanwhile, applications for places at Luton University and the troubled Thames Valley University are down by about a fifth. The University of Wales, Lampeter, has seen applications fall by almost a quarter. Applications to the Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies, Liverpool Hope University College and the University of Wales College, Newport, are also down by about a fifth.
The figures relate to the number of applications from prospective home and overseas students for places on degree courses, higher national diplomas and higher national certificates that Ucas had processed by April 16, compared with the same date last year.
Figures released last week show that the number of applications received by Ucas by March 24 had fallen by 2.5 per cent compared with the previous year.