UK Higher Education: Analyzing Student Enrolment Trends and Rates

This report examines student enrolment trends in UK higher education institutions from 2007/08 to 2016/17, utilizing data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). The study focuses on four academic levels: first degree, postgraduate taught, postgraduate research, and other undergraduate. The analysis reveals that first-degree enrolments are consistently the highest, while postgraduate research has the lowest numbers. Trends indicate a general increase in first-degree enrolments and a fluctuating pattern in postgraduate taught enrolments. The report also highlights a decline in other undergraduate enrolments. Descriptive analysis provides mean, median, standard deviation, and range for each level. The study concludes that progression rates decrease as students advance through the academic levels, suggesting a need for policies to encourage further education. The report acknowledges limitations due to the limited time frame of the data and suggests future research should incorporate a broader historical perspective to enhance accuracy.

Running Header: Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 1
Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom
Student’s name:
Student’s ID:
Institution:

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 2
Introduction
Higher education is a term that is used in distinguishing courses of study that result in the award
of a diploma, degree or a similar advanced qualification (Marginson, 2006). Higher education
entails the education stage which begins after schooling for fifteen years for the intellectual work
and advanced students’ training for an effective and an efficient role in leadership in all walks of
national life (Teichler, 2004). Higher education involves all education that is above the level of
secondary school. They include colleges, professional schools, universities graduate schools,
normal schools and ethical colleges. The aim of higher education is to attain the socio-cultural
and developmental needs of a country (Enders, 2004). Through higher education, individuals are
presented with the opportunity to develop their potential (Teferra & Altbachl, 2004). As a result,
through higher education, the society is presented with individuals who are morally sound and
are capable of multifarious roles in the society.
The United Kingdom has a vast variety of opportunities in higher education for a wide range of
students with over 100 universities offering a variety of degree programs (Yorke & Longden,
2008). In the United Kingdom, there are four levels of education during enrolment, namely, first
degree, postgraduate research, postgraduate taught and other undergraduate levels as per the
classification of the Higher Education Statistical Agency (Scott, 2005). In this regard, the
following study aims to determine the relationship between these higher education academic
levels.
Hypothesis
The following hypothesis was developed:

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 3
 The progression rate from the first degree to the postgraduate taught is higher than the
progression rate from the postgraduate taught to the postgraduate research.
Sample size
Data that was used was obtained from online sources and represented all the recorded number of
students who enrolled in the various levels of higher education. Thus, the researcher opted to use
the whole population size and not sample sizes.
Source of data
Data on student’s enrolment was secondary in nature, having been collected from the internet
(Vartanian, 2010). The data was primarily obtained from the Higher Education Students Agency
(HESA) student records. The sight is used by colleges, universities and other higher education
providers on an annual basis. HESA collects data on students which cover data about their
personal characteristics, modules of study and course, and the qualifications that they have
achieved.
Predicted outcome
Due to the progression of students from one level of higher education academic level to the next,
it is predicted that the progression rate of students from the first degree to the postgraduate taught
is higher than the progression rate of students from the postgraduate taught to the postgraduate
research.
Data collection tools and data

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 4
Since the data was secondary in nature and readily available, there was no need for using a
questionnaire to obtain desired data. Data that was obtained from HESA s as shown in the table
below.
Table 1: First-year Higher education students’ enrolments by the level of study
Academic
year
Postgraduate
research
Postgraduate
taught
First
degree
Other
undergraduate
2007/08 28,905 248,675 458,560 332,335
2008/09 30,320 276,335 494,050 344,145
2009/10 32,985 300,680 518,905 332,685
2010/11 34,400 300,945 518,090 291,995
2011/12 34,775 282,425 552,235 247,895
2012/13 34,570 271,475 495,325 170,880
2013/14 36,240 281,895 521,990 155,615
2014/15 36,320 281,440 526,885 144,240
2015/16 35,975 282,090 542,575 131,485
2016/17 35,340 308,985 548,415 120,745
From the table above, it is evident that most students who enroll in institutions of higher learning
in the United Kingdom are first degree. The least enrolment can be seen n postgraduate research.
Trend analysis
Over the years, the number of students’ enrolment in the higher education space in the United
Kingdom has been changing. The trend can be seen in the figure below:
Figure 1: First-year Higher education students’ enrolments by the level of study

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 5
2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17
0
100,000
200,000
300,000
400,000
500,000
600,000
Trend Analysis
Postgraduate research Postgraduate taught First degree Other undergraduate
From the figure above, it is evident that most student enrolment has been in the first degree while
the least enrolment can be seen in the postgraduate research. However, the four levels show
contrasting trends over the years from 2007/08 to 2016/17. The postgraduate research level has
been relatively constant over the years. However, a different sight can be seen for the other three
levels. Postgraduate taught has been on the increase from 2007/08 to 2009/10. However, from
2010/11 to 2016/16 the enrolment has been decreasing marginally but then picking up in 2015/16
to 2016/17. The other undergraduate level is very different from postgraduate research and
postgraduate taught. The enrolment numbers in the other undergraduate level have been on the
decrease. The first-degree trend is very promising as it can be seen that the enrolment numbers
have been on the rise since 2007/08 till 2016/17. However, there was a short drop in the
enrolment numbers in 2011/12 but the numbers picked up positively to realize a new high in
2016/17 of 548,415 compared to the previous high in 2011/12 of 552,235.

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 6
Descriptive Analysis
To further delve into the details of the data, descriptive analysis was obtained. The output is a
shown in Table 2 below:
Table 2: Descriptive analysis
Postgraduate
research
Postgraduat
e taught
First
degree
Other
undergraduate
Mean 33983 283494.5 517703 227202
Median 34672.5 281992.5 520447.5 209387.5
Standard
Deviation 2532.247794 17216.4236 28706.79 91987.93
Kurtosis 0.551589948 0.86662557 0.64242 -2.06269
Skewness -1.245819328 -0.47310577 -0.85088 0.18127
Range 7415 60310 93675 223400
The postgraduate research has a mean of 33,983 number of students with a standard deviation of
2,532. The range of the postgraduate research is 7,415 with a median of 34,673. Consequently,
the postgraduate taught has a mean of 283,495 number of students with a standard deviation of
17,216. The range of the postgraduate taught is 60,310 with a median of 281,993.
The first-degree level has a mean of 517,703 number of students with a standard deviation of
28,707. The range of the first-degree level is 93,675 with a median of 520,448. On the other
hand, other undergraduate level has a mean of 227,202 number of students with a standard
deviation of 91,988. The range of the other undergraduate level is 223,400 with a median of
209,388.
Data analysis

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 7
To determine the proportion of the students’ enrolment in the United Kingdom universities, the
following chart was developed as seen below:
2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
Postgraduate research Postgraduate taught First degree Other undergraduate
From the chart above it is evident that the most level of education with the highest number of
students is the first degree. Over the years from 2007/08 to 2016/17, the first degree level of
education has been the most dominant. The trend cannot be seen to slow down any time soon
thereby making the first degree a potential pool for future students for the other level of
education. The other undergraduate level is the second dominant that is till 2012/13. The
undergraduate can be seen to lose its popularity as the first-degree level continues to gain
popularity. Therefore, it can be deduced that more students in the United Kingdom are opting for
the first-degree level. Moreover, more students are also getting exemplary qualifications making
them legible for the first degree without undergoing the other undergraduate level such as
diploma courses. As the students get to clear their first degree, the number of students who opt to
join the postgraduate taught lessens significantly. Thus, it can be deduced that the progression

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 8
level from the first degree to postgraduate taught is low. However, throughout the years, these
numbers can be seen as increasing rather marginally but the trend is encouraging. The dynamics
of the modern workplace and economy requires people with a high skill set. Thus, this is forcing
more people to get a further education rather than settling on their first degrees or other
undergraduate qualifications. Such trends are bound to increase the numbers of those enrolling in
postgraduate taught. The progression rate from postgraduate taught to postgraduate research
decreases even further compared to the progression rate from the first degree to the postgraduate
research. The number of students who opt for postgraduate research is very small compared to
the other three levels of education at the university level in the United Kingdom. Thus, it can be
deduced that most of the students who have passed the postgraduate taught tend to prefer less for
the postgraduate research. Therefore, more needs to be done to ensure that the postgraduate
research numbers can be improved in a bid to match it with the postgraduate taught.
Conclusion and future improvements
From the study above, it can be seen that most of the tests have been proven correct in
accordance with the predictions. However, it has been seen that the progression levels of the
students through the four levels have been decreasing. Thus, policies are needed to be put in
place to encourage more students to pursue further levels of education as knowledge is power.
The study may have limitations since only data used was from 2007/08 to 2017/18. To improve
the study, future researchers should consider using data from as far back as possible to make the
research more accurate.

Higher Education Students’ enrolment in United Kingdom 9
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Marginson, S., 2006. Dynamics of national and global competition in higher education. Higher
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Scott, P., 2005. The globalization of higher education. In Higher Education Re-formed (pp. 101-
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Teferra, D. and Altbachl, P.G., 2004. African higher education: Challenges for the 21st
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Teichler, U., 2004. The changing debate on internationalization of higher education. Higher
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Vartanian, T.P., 2010. Secondary data analysis. Oxford University Press.
Yorke, M. and Longden, B., 2008. The first-year experience in higher education in the
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