The least popular uni courses, that barely anyone in the UK bothers to study now

Believe it or not, there are 35 specific uni courses that fewer than 500 freshers choose to do each year. These are officially the least popular uni courses in the UK.

Now, some of these numbers are so small because the course is just really niche, and rarely on offer at unis. Like, I had no clue you could even do a degree in hair and beauty sciences, or in naval architecture. But a fair few subjects on this list did used to be more popular, but have seen a big drop in numbers over the last few years. For instance, 31 per cent fewer students study genetics now than in 2019.

Pretty much every course in the “language and area studies” catalogue is much less popular than it used to be. This is a real shame, because grads who studied these subjects are pretty employable. Lots of UK unis are planning to cut back the language and area courses they offer. The number of freshers doing American and Australasian studies fell by two-thirds over five years.

This data came from UCAS, and refers to the number of students who accepted offers for these courses in the 2024 admissions cycle. About a third of students in Scotland don’t apply through UCAS, so aren’t included in these numbers.

So, here are the least popular UK uni courses now:

35. Dental nursing – 340 students

34. Materials science – 330 students

33. Materials technology – 320 students

32. German and Scandinavian studies – 280 students

=30. Genetics – 270 students

=30. Psychology and health – 270 students

29. Food sciences – 260 students

Could you feasibly do a diss on pizza, then?

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28. Biotechnology – 220 students

27. Food and beverage production – 215 students

26. Publicity studies – 210 students

25. Cultural studies – 185 students

24. Landscape design – 180 students

23. African and modern Middle Eastern studies – 175 students

=21. Information services – 165 students

=21. Slavic studies – 165 students

20. Rural estate management – 145 students

19. American and Australasian studies – 140 students

18. Italian studies – 135 students

A reminder of the amazing trips language students get to go on

17. Food and beverage studies – 115 students

16. Agricultural sciences – 110 students

15. Maritime technology – 100 students

14. Operational research – 90 students

13. Forestry and arboriculture – 85 students

12. Heritage studies – 75 students

11. Publishing – 75 students

10. Plant sciences – 65 students

Imagine how many cacti these students would have in their uni rooms

9. Polymers and textiles – 60 students

8. Naval architecture – 55 students

7. Welsh studies – 50 students

6. Gaelic studies – 40 students

5. Celtic studies (non-specific) – 35 students

4. Toxicology – 30 students

3. Hair and beauty sciences – 25 students

=1. Community nursing – 10 students

=1. Minerals technology – 10 students

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