Demand for places at Scottish universities is holding up well.
Figures from admissions service UCAS show that the total number of applications received by mid-December was down only 0.8% compared to the same time last year. That was the best performance in the UK and contrasts with an 8.3% decline in England.
UCAS said applications to Scottish institutions totalled 14,617, down only 112 year-on-year.
There was actually a slight rise in the number of Scots wishing to stay in Scotland to study, but this was offset by falls in applicants from south of the border.
Only 2,384 Scots have applied for places at English universities, down from 2,832 last time.
The total number of applicants for UK universities, including overseas students, stands at 322,000, down from 344,000 this time last year a decline of 6.4%.
However, UCAS said it is still too early to make predictions about eventual demand as the majority of courses starting next autumn have a January 15 deadline.
Chief executive Mary Curnock Cook said: ”Evidence of a late surge as the January deadline approaches is now emerging. Applicants are taking longer to research their choices but the applications flow has speeded up.”
National Union of Students vice-president Dannie Grufferty said: ”Obviously, we can’t draw any conclusions about the impact of the government’s disastrous reforms to higher education funding simply from interim application figures.
”The impacts will also be on the choice of subject, the mode of study and will reach throughout graduates’ lives.”