UK: Drop in acceptance for international architecture students - UCAS
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UK universities are accepting less international students from outside the EU for architecture, building and planning courses, new figures from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show.

The Architects’ Journal reported that their acceptance rate has fallen by 11 percent this year to what is said to be the lowest level of acceptance among this group of students since 2013.

Placements for these fields of study have been decreasing year on year, it noted. The total number of students last year were 7,050 while this year there were just 7,020. The number of EU applicants, however, remained the same as the previous year at 510.

Rising costs at architecture schools

UCAS figures come in the wake of reports of the rising cost of architecture school, with parties calling it a field of study out of reach for all but the rich.

Last week, Building Design reported that more than 84 percent of architecture schools have ignored a call to make public the hidden costs of studying these subjects.

The demand from three student representatives at the Royal Insititute of British Architects came to light in an open letter detailing how architecture students are being forced into financial hardship due to the hidden expenses of these schools.


Student reps assessed hundreds of applications to the RIBA student hardship fund and uncovered the extra expenses, which include university field trips, printing and materials needed for models.

Based on responses from eight of the 51 publicly funded colleges the letter was sent out to, students were reportedly having to fork out an extra £1,500 up-front for the expenses listed above.

Speaking to Architects’ Journal, 24-year-old Ashley Mayes, a Part 2 Graduate at the Sheffield School of Architecture, said: “Cost has become a barrier to the profession. I would not have entertained the thought of studying architecture 10 years ago knowing what I do now. I know many of my peers, if they have not already sought careers elsewhere, find themselves in this paradox.”

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