簡介：Nursing has seen the strongest growth at degree level of any area of higher education since moving towards becoming a graduate profession. There were more than 100,000 degree applications for the first time in 2010, and by March 2012 the subject was well on the way to 200,000, becoming by far the most popular choice of all. The withdrawal of the diploma route into the profession from September 2013 encouraged another 27 per cent rise in applications for degrees starting in 2012, following growth of 49 per cent in the previous year. It is all a far cry from 2008, when well-publicised stories of nurses finishing their training to face the dole led to a decline in the demand for places. The number of places has not kept pace with such massive growth in demand. Indeed, the number of new enrolments dropped by 1,500 in 2011, making nursing one of the most competitive subjects, with almost nine applications for every place. The selection process may well tighten further in 2013, but entry requirements are certain to remain low. Despite the squeeze on places in 2010, only nine universities averaged more than 350 points for A levels and Highers. Entry scores are more closely bunched than in many tables: just two universities averaged less than 200 points. Edinburgh remains top of the table, with the highest entry standards and good scores on the other measures. Glasgow has moved up to second, as the only other university to average 400 points at entry and sharing the top score in the 2011 National Student Survey with Liverpool, in fifth place. Fourth-placed Manchester produced the best grades in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, with 85 per cent of its submission considered world-leading or internationally excellent. Chester, which is in the bottom ten overall, is one of 11 universities with 100 per cent employment records. The others are Liverpool, Ulster, York, Leeds, Cardiff, Sheffield Hallam, Bradford, Coventry, the joint school at Kingston and St George’s, in south London, and Queen Margaret, Edinburgh. Only four universities saw fewer than nine out of ten nurses go straight into the profession or on to further study, leaving the subject in the top three for employment prospects. However, it is a different story in the earnings league, where nursing is 16th, with average starting salaries below ￡22,500. Northumbria, which shares tenth place with East Anglia, is the only post-1992 university in the top ten of a ranking where less than a third of the institutions are older foundations. Queen Margaret, Kingston and St George’s, Teesside and De Montfort join it in the top 20. Cardiff is the top university in Wales, while Ulster, which secured one of the best grades in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, outperforms Queen’s, Belfast in Northern Ireland, sharing fifth place with Liverpool overall. Almost two thirds of the students arrive without A levels, many of them upgrading other health-related qualifications. A quarter of those who join pre-registration programmes drop out, but the rate is nearer 10 per cent thereafter.