A Scottish Government spokesman said: "Last year's overall UCAS figures showed an increase in the number of Scots accepted to study in Scottish universities, demonstrating the benefits of our decision to abolish tuition fees while the UK Government increased them.
"Today's figures suggest that applications from Scotland remain resilient compared to other parts of the UK, although the mid-December snapshot remains early days.
"We also understand that the mild winter has seen less of a push from some schools to get applications in before Christmas."
