APPLICATIONS for full-time undergraduate courses at the University of Wales, Newport, are up for the fourth successive year.

According to latest figures from UCAS, the admissions service, the number of people interested in studying at the university have increased by 3.1 per cent.

It means there has been a rise of 91 per cent since January 2003 and continued the trend revealed by previous UCAS figures for 2005 when it had the largest increase in full-time undergraduate applications of any UK university.

The university's vice-chancellor, Dr Peter Noyes said: "We are proud that we are continuing to maintain our popularity as a place where people are keen to study, particularly as these figures show that applications in Wales were down 0.1 per cent overall."

He added it reflected the fact that the university was going to grow in reputation thanks to an increasing portfolio of innovative courses and the high level of satisfaction expressed in the independent National Survey of Students.

A £20 million city centre campus is planned which will be the first phase of a £50 million development and will initially house Newport Business School and Newport School of Art, Media and Design.