UCU comment on new university entrance figures

Provisional figures published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills show the proportion of people aged between 17 and 30 who entered higher education in the autumn of 2008 increased from 43% to 45%. 51% of young women entered higher education - up from 49% the previous year - and 40% of young men.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The government should be rightly proud of its efforts to get more people into our universities. However, it needs to be brave enough to back its policy and provide the necessary resources the university sector, and record numbers of students, so desperately need.
 
'If you make swingeing cuts there will be consequences. There will be job losses, there will be course closures and there will be qualified students who, despite having been encouraged by this government to apply to university, will miss out.'