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Biological sciences and business are among subjects to have experienced a surge in popularity over the past seven years, while numbers have fallen in joint honours and languages, according to data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Students in Higher Education 2013/14 looks at the popularity of first-degree subjects between 2007-08 and 2013-14, when the total number of first-degree students increased by 13 per cent.

It reveals that student intake in all but five of the 19 subject areas has risen over the seven years.

The subjects that have increased in popularity the most are those allied to medicine (39 per cent growth) and biological sciences (30 per cent), followed by business and administrative studies and mathematics, both up by 24 per cent.

The sharpest decline (45 per cent) was in joint honours degrees, followed by architecture, building and planning (a drop of 21 per cent) and languages (down 6 per cent).

holly.else@tesglobal.com