1 Well, yes and no. Basically what has happened is that the numbers of school-leavers going on to higher education has dramatically expanded over the last fifteen years or so (cynics say the government did this to cover the real rate of youth unemployment). But the funding did not expand to match. So the UK has moved from seven per cent of secondary school leavers going on to university to nearly forty per cent (and rising). Something had to give. There are more science students overall, but at fewer institutions (funding is related to "star" rating, so poorly performing institutions get their funding scaled down).