CUTS in the number of university places announced by the Government are unlikely to hit York St John University.

In a bid to make £200 million worth of savings in the higher education sector, the Government has allowed only 10,000 extra university places to be made available for this autumn – half the number announced by the Labour government.

Of these places, 8,000 will be for full-time undergraduates and 2,000 will be for part-time students. All the places will be for STEM subjects – science, technology, engineering and maths.

York St John University has 8,928 seeking places – 34 per cent more than last year.

But John Gallacher, director of finance at York St John University, said: “The cuts in university funding, with more to come, have been widely anticipated in the sector.

“Whilst reduction in additional places is unwelcome and will leave large numbers of able students with no place at university, the emphasis on extra STEM subject places means that it is unlikely to impact significantly on York St John’s current course provision.”

He said that the impact on the university’s budget on the range of cuts would become clearer in June with the next Government announcement “and will continue to inform our planning”.