Annual datasets

2006 entry data now available

UCAS Annual Datasets are designed to provide you with applicant, course and institution statistics at a national level. They are free to download and are available for 1996 to 2006 entry. From 2000 entry they are also available separately for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The data are supplied as Excel version 5 spreadsheets and are designed to be used with the pivot table tool to create many more tables than would be practically possible in a printed report.

The datasets are easy to use, but also an ideal tool for those requiring sophisticated analysis of UCAS data. The same data is available via our on-line Statistical Enquiry Service, which is designed to provide simple tables or specific numbers to non-statistical or non-technical users, as well as those more familiar with UCAS statistics.

Help
Downloading datasets
Pivot table analysis
Statistical enquiry service

Annual Datasets
There are seven dataset types, which are available for each year and, from 2000 entry, for each UK country:

• Subject
• Institution / Subject Group / Domicile
• Institution / Age
• Region / Domicile
• Qualifications / Subject
• Qualifications / Educational Establishment / Ethnicity
• Ethnicity / Social Class

An International dataset is also available for 2000 entry onwards.

Subject Dataset

Variables:
Subject group
Subject line
Applicant region:
domicile
Age (11 Categories)
Sex

Data:
Applicants
Accepted applicants:
   Degree
   Degree, Clearing
   HND
   HND, Clearing
   Total
   Total, Clearing

National datasets show the sub-set of data relating to applicants from each country.

UCAS subject classifications now employ the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). JACS, introduced for 2002 entry, replaces UCAS' Standard Classification of Academic Subjects (SCAS), which was used up to and including 2001 entry. Usually presented by broad subject area (Subject group) or detailed subject of study (Subject line).

For more information on subject classifications, click here.

Applicants are classified according to the subject listed most frequently on the application form. For some subjects this creates the impression that there are more people accepted than applied. Acceptances are classified according to the subject of acceptance.

For statistical purposes, Clearing accepts include those accepted through Extra and direct entrants, unless otherwise stated.

For statistical purposes, Degree includes Foundation degrees, unless otherwise stated.

Institution / Subject Group / Domicile Dataset

Variables:
Institution order
Institution code
Institution name
Institution region
Subject group
Applicant region:
domicile
Sex

Data:
Applications:
   Degree
   HND
   Total
Accepted applicants:
   Degree
   HND
   Total

National datasets show the sub-set of data relating to applicants accepted to institutions in each country. Institution region is shown for England and Scotland.

UCAS subject classifications now employ the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). JACS, introduced for 2002 entry, replaces UCAS' Standard Classification of Academic Subjects (SCAS), which was used up to and including 2001 entry. Usually presented by broad subject area (Subject group) or detailed subject of study (Subject line).

For more information on subject classifications, click here.

Before 1998 entry, UCAS presented regional data by Standard Statistical Region (SSR), which is not directly comparable with Government Office Region (GOR) used for 1998 entry onwards. For comparative purposes, both new GORs (Institution region) and old SSRs (97Institution region) are included in this dataset.

For statistical purposes, Clearing accepts include those accepted through Extra and direct entrants, unless otherwise stated.

For statistical purposes, Degree includes Foundation degrees, unless otherwise stated.

Institution / Age Dataset

Variables:
Institution order
Institution code
Institution name
Institution region
Age (11 categories)

Data:
Accepted applicants:
   Degree
   HND

National datasets show the sub-set of data relating to applicants accepted to institutions in each country. Institution region is shown for England and Scotland.

Before 1998 entry, UCAS presented regional data by Standard Statistical Region (SSR), which is not directly comparable with Government Office Region (GOR) used for 1998 entry onwards. For comparative purposes, both new GORs (Institution region) and old SSRs (97Institution region) are included in this dataset.

For statistical purposes, Clearing accepts include those accepted through Extra and direct entrants, unless otherwise stated.

For statistical purposes, Degree includes Foundation degrees, unless otherwise stated.

Region / Domicile Dataset

Variables:
Institution region
Applicant region: continent (Region 1)
Applicant region: country (Region 2)
Applicant region: commonwealth
Sex

Data:
Accepted applicants:
   Degree
   HND
   Total
Not accepted
Applicants

National datasets show the sub-set of data relating to applicants from each country. Applicant region is shown for England.

Before 1998 entry, UCAS presented regional data by Standard Statistical Region (SSR), which is not directly comparable with Government Office Region (GOR) used for 1998 entry onwards. Regions most affected by the change include the North (now divided into the North East and North West regions) and the North West (which has been expanded to include the county of Cumbria, formerly in the North). Merseyside, which was previously included in the North West, is now listed independently. East Anglia was redefined and expanded as the Eastern region, including Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. Consequently, the South East region became substantially smaller.

For statistical purposes, Clearing accepts include those accepted through Extra and direct entrants, unless otherwise stated.

For statistical purposes, Degree includes Foundation degrees, unless otherwise stated.

Qualifications / Subject Dataset

Note that this dataset is restricted to UK applicants and accepted applicants

Variables:
Subject group
Subject line
Tariff (From 2002)
Main qualification (To 2001)
Grade (To 2001)
AS/CSYS (To 2001)
Age (4 categories)

Data:
Applicants
   Male
   Female
   Total
Accepted applicants:
   Degree, Male
   Degree, Female
   Degree, Total
   HND, Male
   HND, Female
   HND, Total
   Total, Male
   Total, Female
   Total

National datasets show the sub-set of data relating to applicants from each country.

UCAS subject classifications now employ the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). JACS, introduced for 2002 entry, replaces UCAS' Standard Classification of Academic Subjects (SCAS), which was used up to and including 2001 entry. Usually presented by broad subject area (Subject group) or detailed subject of study (Subject line).

For more information on subject classifications, click here.

Applicants are classified according to the subject listed most frequently on the application form. For some subjects this creates the impression that there are more people accepted than applied. Acceptances are classified according to the subject of acceptance.

The UCAS Tariff was introduced for 2002 entry. The Tariff establishes agreed equivalences between different types of qualifications and reports achievement for entry to higher education in a numerical format. This allows comparisons between applicants with different types and volumes of achievement. It is no longer possible to report main qualification or the points scored previously used for A/AS level.

For statistical purposes, Clearing accepts include those accepted through Extra and direct entrants, unless otherwise stated.

For statistical purposes, Degree includes Foundation degrees, unless otherwise stated.

Qualifications / Educational Establishment / Ethnicity Dataset

To enable comparisons with previous years, Socio-economic status (NS-SEC) is provided for earlier years in UCAS data, and has been derived using the matrix published by the Office for National Statistics.

Applicants are asked to record their ethnic origin on the UCAS application form. Provision of this information is voluntary and it is not passed to institutions until after the selection process. Ethnicity is published in detail (Ethnic origin) or summarised into broad groupings (Ethnic group). Ethnicity data are only available for home (UK domiciled) applicants.

There have been a number of changes to the Ethnic origin classifications between 1996 and 2005 entry, including the division of White into British/Irish/Scottish/Other and the introduction of other groupings such as mixed and Chinese. Direct comparisons between the years are therefore not recommended.

For 1998 entry, there were amendments made to the classification of school types, rendering them not comparable to previous years. The 1998 and 1999 datasets include an OLDSector variable to provide previous educational establishment sectors corresponding to earlier UCAS data. Educational establishment has been dropped for 2003 entry owing to difficulties associated with accurately reporting establishment at this resolution. In addition, minor reporting expansions have been made to educational sector labels.

For statistical purposes, Clearing accepts include those accepted through Extra and direct entrants, unless otherwise stated.

For statistical purposes, Degree includes Foundation degrees, unless otherwise stated.

Ethnicity / Social Class Dataset

Note that this dataset is restricted to UK applicants and accepted applicants.

Variables:
Age (11 categories)(To 2001)
Age (4 categories (From 2002)
Ethnic group
Ethnic origin
Socio-economic (From 2002)
Social class (To 2001)
Subject group

Data:
Applicants
   Male
   Female
   Total
Accepted applicants:
   Degree, Male
   Degree, Female
   Degree, Total
   HND, Male
   HND, Female
   HND, Total
   Total

National datasets show the sub-set of data relating to applicants from each country.

From 2002 entry, Socio-economic status (NS-SEC) replaced Social class in UCAS data.

UCAS now uses the Standard Occupational Classification 2000, which replaces the Standard Occupational Classification 1990 used up to and including 2001 entry. UCAS assigns Socio-economic status based on an applicant's parental occupation (or the occupation of the person contributing the highest income to the household if the applicant is aged 21 years or over) and uses a simplified version of the National Statistics Socio-economic Classification (NS-SEC) since UCAS does not collect employment status or size of organisation from applicants.

Provision of this information is voluntary and it is not passed to institutions until after the selection process. Socio-economic status (and Social class) data are only available for home (UK domiciled) applicants.

To enable comparisons with previous years, Socio-economic status (NS-SEC) is provided for earlier years in UCAS data, and has been derived using the matrix published by the Office for National Statistics.

UCAS subject classifications now employ the Joint Academic Coding System (JACS). JACS, introduced for 2002 entry, replaces UCAS' Standard Classification of Academic Subjects (SCAS), which was used up to and including 2001 entry. Usually presented by broad subject area (Subject group) or detailed subject of study (Subject line).

For more information on subject classifications, click here.

Applicants are classified according to the subject listed most frequently on the application form. For some subjects this creates the impression that there are more people accepted than applied. Acceptances are classified according to the subject of acceptance.

Applicants are asked to record their ethnic origin on the UCAS application form. Provision of this information is voluntary and it is not passed to institutions until after the selection process. Ethnicity is published in detail (Ethnic origin) or summarised into broad groupings (Ethnic group). Ethnicity data are only available for home (UK domiciled) applicants.

There have been a number of changes to the Ethnic origin classifications between 1996 and 2005 entry, including the division of White into British/Irish/Scottish/Other and the introduction of other groupings such as mixed and Chinese. Direct comparisons between the years are therefore not recommended.

For statistical purposes, Clearing accepts include those accepted through Extra and direct entrants, unless otherwise stated.

For statistical purposes, Degree includes Foundation degrees, unless otherwise stated.

International Dataset

Variables:
Region of domicile
Applicant region: country
Institution: country
Subject group
Sex
Age (4 categories) (To 2001)
Age (2 categories) (From 2002)

Data:
Applications
   Degree
   HND
   Total
Accepted applicants:
   Degree
   HND
   Total