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Overall, applications have remained fairly buoyant despite the introduction of fees of £9,000 a year, with a 3% rise in the number of state school applicants and no overall changes for UK students as a whole.

However, a closer analysis of the figures reveals a growth in maths and science applications with engineering up as much as 12%, while most of the humanities subjects have shown a drop.

There will still be scramble for places when students get their A-level results, as there are about 100,000 more applicants than places despite a drop of 9% from UK would-be undergraduates this summer. There are also 20,000 fewer places available as a result of the Government withdrawing extra places that had been on offer since the start of the recession.

Meanwhile, a clampdown on grade inflation could cause the pass rate in some subjects to fall this year. Ofqual, the exams regulator, has told the exam board each grade at GCSE and A-level should be "roughly" the same as last year.

However, subjects such as GCSE science, where the regulator has ordered the syllabus to be tightened up, could experience a fall in the pass rate.

As a result of Ofqual's policy, thousands of schools expecting improved results – particularly in maths and English at GCSE – are likely to be disappointed, head teachers' leaders warned.