Government Announces Extra University Places
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Multiple industries, such as travel and hospitality, face major challenges in staying afloat as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, but not all sectors are seeing setbacks. Some life science sales companies are attracting new investment, and the rising need for people to work in engineering, science and nursing has led the Government to make a very exciting announcement.
On Wednesday 29 July, Universities Minister Michelle Donelan confirmed that the Government has approved over 9,000 additional places at UK universities for engineering, science and nursing courses, to help deliver vital services and support the economy, as well as generating positive outcomes for students and the taxpayer. She said:
“These courses not only deliver some of the best outcomes for students, they will also be integral to driving innovation, helping our public services and building the skills the country needs.”
Bids for extra course places
Institutions were given the opportunity to bid for 10,000 additional places. At least 5,000 of these additional places needed to be for healthcare courses, and the remaining 5,000 were required to represent courses of ‘strategic importance’.
The bids for additional places were assessed on a number of factors, such as the quality of each provider, including rates of continuation and graduate employment rates. All of the bids that met the set criteria were accepted, and in total there were 3,859 eligible bids from 38 different providers for additional places on courses of strategic importance.
Allocating additional places
The additional 9,000 university places are spread over the three important areas of education.
The Government’s aim to drive an increase in science and innovation has seen it encourage people to take up STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) studies and subsequent jobs, and as part of this, 1,300 of the additional 9,000 university places are for engineering courses, 756 places are being added for bio-sciences courses, and almost 500 places for mathematics courses.
The pandemic has only highlighted our nation’s need for nurses, and this is reflected in the additional university places for healthcare courses. The government announcement includes a total of 5,611 places for healthcare courses at universities across England, with 3,803 of the additional places going to nursing courses, all with the aim of supporting the NHS.
Investing in the UK’s future
In June, Boris Johnson stated that investing in skills is crucial to our economic recovery post-coronavirus and the announcement of additional university places and boost to public sector jobs comes after years of cutbacks under austerity.
“We have seen more clearly than ever before the heroic efforts of our public workers during this pandemic,” said Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
He went on to say: “The fantastic teachers, police officers and NHS workers truly are the pride of the nation and embody the spirit of public duty that every one of us can aspire towards.”
The announcement for additional university places in engineering, science and nursing will help thousands of students gain more knowledge that will help them progress in life, will support our people’s health, safety and wellbeing, and will add economic value that will help to rebuild Britain.
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