In an initial reaction, Baaijens said he was pleased that the doubling of TU/e's intake over recent years appears to be continuing and also that TU/e is managing to keep the growth of that intake controlled. “This enables us to safeguard the high quality of our programs, which involves giving our students plenty of personal attention,” says Baaijens.

In percentage terms, Computer Science & Engineering (+ 45.1 percent) and Applied Mathematics (+ 44.6 percent) are the strongest climbers at TU/e. In absolute figures, 249 and 111 prospective students, respectively, are involved. Applied Physics follows with a growth of 19.8 percent, which translates to 192 pre-enrollments.

For the new Data Science Bachelor's, for which registration recently commenced, 29 pre-enrollments have now been received. At present it is not yet clear whether a shift will take place in prospective student numbers from Computer Science & Engineering to Data Science. This will be monitored over the coming weeks. 

Four programs are declining compared to last year: Electrical Engineering (-19.1 percent), Architecture, Building and Planning (-13.6 percent), Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences (-12.1 percent) and Mechanical Engineering (-0.6 percent). The last-mentioned program does, however, remain the largest in absolute figures with 285 pre-enrollments, followed closely by Biomedical Engineering (269).

The proportion of women is another aspect that has seen some sustained growth: of 2,118 pre-enrollers, 1,518 are men (72 percent) and 600 are women (28 percent). Compared to the proportion of women last year, this represents a rise of 13 percent. Baaijens says he is proud that this percentage has increased. On the Biomedical Engineering and Industrial Design programs, the women pre-enrollers are even outstripping their male counterparts.