UK chemical engineering course applications up 12%

London – Chemical engineering degree courses have attracted 11,890 applications, 12.4% more than this time last year, according to the UK higher education admissions service (UCAS). Applications to engineering courses as a whole are also up, though only by 1.3%.

The increases contrasted sharply with a 7% drop in degree course applications overall for the 2012/2013 academic year. This decline is being linked to the introduction of higher tuition fees, which have risen to up to £9,000 per year.

The UCAS figures suggest that students are thinking more carefully about the financial returns of their degree choice, according to IChemE communications Manager Matt Stalker.

“It seems that students are thinking very carefully about which degree choices are likely to offer best return on investment and, in such an analysis, chemical engineering comes out looking more favourable than most other disciplines,” said Stalker.

“Chemical engineering graduates command the third highest average starting salary in the UK,” he added. “That, combined with the breadth of career opportunities a degree in the subject can offer and the ever-increasing reach of IChemE’s whynotchemeng campaign, makes it little surprise that chemical engineering is bucking the trend.”