The two universities in Brighton are confident about their student intake despite a national drop in the number of applications.
With results day just last week, Sussex University and Brighton University said that it was too early to give final numbers for this year’s intake.
But both universities expect student numbers to remain at about the same level as last year.
The Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) said earlier this year that the number of applications for university places nationally had fallen 5 per cent.
Among students from other European Union countries, the drop was 7 per cent.
The decline was blamed on a smaller number of students leaving sixth form this year and the government’s decision to axe bursaries for student nurses.
Among students from overseas, there appeared to be a greater reluctance for EU nationals to apply to British universities given the uncertainties around Brexit – Britain leaving the EU.
Sussex University, based in Falmer, said that it had “overall seen a healthy application process”.
The university even said that it was not using the “clearing” process this year, breaking a long tradition of recruiting some students to unfilled course places after A-level results come out.
The university said: “The number of undergraduate places Sussex is offering is very much in line with last year – and overall we have seen a healthy application process.
“The university did not offer clearing places this year in order to ensure that we are able to fulfil our promise to teach to an excellent standard.”
This looks likely to be the first year that the Sussex intake has not shown a rise in numbers since 2011.
They were going up under former vice-chancellor Michael Farthing’s “Making the Future” strategic plan to increase the intake year on year to 18,000 students by 2018.
The Sussex student body numbered 17,319 in total, counting undergraduate and postgraduate students, when the new intake arrived at Sussex a year ago.
This was an increase of more than 2,000 in total student numbers from the previous year and an increase of more than 4,000 compared with five years earlier.
Sussex said that it did not count home and EU students separately since both categories of student currently paid the same fees.
