BBCPeople in Wales “need to be worried” about the number of young people applying to higher education, according to university bosses.
The number of 18-year-olds from Wales applying to university is the lowest in the UK, according to data from Ucas.
Prof Paul Boyle, chairman of Universities Wales, said it was “the biggest gap we’ve known in modern history” and called for a Welsh government review.
The Welsh government said it was aware of the drop and said it was focused on understanding what it could do to increase participation.
Ucas data showed 33.8% of 18-year-olds in Wales had applied for university by the end of June.
The UK-wide figure was 41.9%.
Prof Boyle, who is also vice chancellor of Swansea University, said application rates had dropped in some of the most disadvantaged parts of Wales and “we need to be worried”.
“That’s our next generation of doctors, of nurses, of teachers, of engineers – vital cohorts who will come through and help the economic growth that Wales needs,” he said.
Despite cost-of-living pressures, Prof Boyle said maintenance packages were “actually more generous” than other parts of the UK.
However, there has been concern about graduate debt – the latest figures from the Student Loan Company suggested the average loan debt for students in Wales was £37,360.
He said data did not suggest more young people were choosing other paths such as apprenticeships either.
Twenty-year-old Arwen Jones, from Maesteg, Bridgend county, was one of those who did opt for an apprenticeship.
She applied for a university place but ended up taking a marketing and communications apprenticeship, before going on to work for an MP, where she attended meetings with a former prime minister and worked on an election campaign.
“I don’t believe that people choosing not to go to university is affecting the skill sets that we have as an age group,” she said.
“There are other choices that people are making that are furthering their skill sets in a way that university wouldn’t have the same strengths to do.
“I truly believe that you choose the path that’s right for you.”
Swansea University holds summer courses in order to encourage more sixth formers to apply for university – even if nobody in their family has gone before them.
The Step Up programme runs events and residential courses to give those who might face obstacles a taste of university life.
Lillie-May Mullins from Townhill, Swansea, took part and is now in the second year of a criminology degree.
But the course also encouraged her mother to start a degree of her own, something she described as “really nice”.
She said: “She always wanted a degree, but she had me quite young, so she didn’t.
“Then because I was going, she was like ‘well, if you can do it, I can do it’.”
But she said concerns about the cost of university can discourage young people and that schools should do more to raise awareness of the support for students.
“I feel as a 16-year-old you don’t realise all the opportunities you can get to help you,” she said.
Owen Robinson, 19, from Tenby, Pembrokeshire, is also helping out on the programme this summer.
His parents had not been to university so when Owen and his sister decided to apply it was “a learning curve”.
He said going on to higher education was not “normalised” in his area.
“I think that’s partly because there isn’t a university in Pembrokeshire.
“So it’s not normalised in the same way as it is in other places.”
Rhys, 17, from Neath is one of the pupils on the residential course.
He said he was hopeful university would help him “get a proper job to pay the bills and keep me afloat” while he follows his dream of becoming a writer.
“I’m seeing things more clearly than I would have without doing this and given some solid advice,” he said.
The Welsh government said it was aware of the decrease in 18-year-olds applying to university and were focused “on understanding what we can do to further increase participation”.
It said the issue was “broader than higher education”, promising an update on the government’s policy response in the autumn.
Plaid Cymru said it was concerned about the growing gap in applications from Wales compared with the UK average.
“We need urgent action from the Welsh government to address the decline in both standards and aspirations throughout our education system in Wales,” its education spokesperson Cefin Campbell MS said.
The Welsh Conservatives said it was “a worrying trend that must be investigated”.
“If we don’t, we risk stunting Wales’ future workforce of highly trained, skilled, and experienced professionals and severely limit opportunities for young people and future generations,” Tom Giffard MS said.
