UCAS (Universities & Colleges Admission Service) has reported a 16% increase in applications to study building courses, with applications for civil engineering courses up 25% and architecture up 17.5%.

These findings contradict recent reports that enrolments on construction courses are falling and that, at the current rate, there will be no construction students at university by 2012.

Tying in with these findings, the Presidential Commission of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) is about to undertake research into how universities and industry can implement better connectivity between construction courses with industy needs.

The research will focus on questions such as the impact of government initiatives - like the introduction of top up fees - on applications to building courses, the need for educational establishments to become active recruiters, and innovation in the development and delivery of construction courses to meet the needs of a more demanding student population and those who will eventually employ them.

Ron McCaffer, lecturer at Loughborough University, says: "The national data show an uplift in applications for places on construction degrees and this has been reflected at Loughborough University. There are a number of factors driving this renewed interest in construction, for example, after some years of a national decline in construction graduates, the industry is now doing well and construction graduates are in short supply with salaries rising.

"Also, industry is more aware than ever before that to attract good quality graduates it isn\'t sufficient just to offer a salary, a whole career has to be available. Add to that the future prospect of students paying fees, a subject being widely discussed in schools and by careers masters, and the connection between choosing a degree with good remuneration prospects and one that hasn\'t is more sharply focused in the applicant\'s mind than it has ever been.""