2 UNITE STUDENTS | APPLICANT INDEX SURVEY | 2022 New students due to arrive at university in autumn 2022 have experienced disruption across the last three academic years of their education, and most severely while majority were taking their Level 2 (GCSE, National 5s) and the first part of their Level 3 (A-level, Highers) qualifications, or international equivalents. In addition to the educational implications of the pandemic, the Government’s Covid-19 Mental Health and Wellbeing Surveillance Report concludes that some young people’s mental health and wellbeing has been significantly impacted during the pandemic. As yet, we do not know what this will mean as they make the transition to university and – for most – take their first steps into independence. Indeed, over the coming decade, successive cohorts will have experienced the pandemic and lockdowns at different stages of their development and education, and it is difficult to predict how this will affect them. Will their needs and expectations be different? Will existing inequalities be widened? Can their academic and wellbeing needs be met? We have created the Unite Students Applicant Index to answer these questions. It will do so by tracking trends in the attributes and attitudes of university applicants over the coming years. It will provide an early indication of the needs and attitudes of each cohort, and a ‘health check’ in topical areas of the student experience. The index is also a barometer of the requirements each cohort has of higher education providers, and the extent to which they believe these can be met. In this sense it tracks how well institutions are communicating with their potential students and adapting to their changing needs. About the survey This report is based on a survey of 2,038 university applicants planning to start an undergraduate degree in the 2022-23 academic year. It was conducted via the YouthSight panel in the UK between 25th June and 11th July 2022. A full methodology, including demographic breakdown of the sample and weighting applied, can be found in the Methodology section towards the end of this report. INTRODUCTION