Parents would stop me from moving out for University

I'm currently in Year 13 and I'm starting to apply for universities. I'm looking to study outside my own city (I live in the North-West of England), predominantly Scottish Universities. However, I'm from a South-Asian household, and as you may know they are very uptight about everything, especially moving out. I haven't told them I want to do this, but I have spoken about it in the past, and they've shown how against they are about it. I'm almost adamant that if they were to find out, they would most likely force me to change my options to something in my city. My dad would probably go as far as to hit me and threaten me if I even contemplated it (has done that before with other matters). P.S, this is commonplace for a lot of South-Asian kids like me. I've rarely ever spoken to my parents about anything in my life so I'd be terrified to tell them, but would I have to?

I've contemplated applying without them knowing and when the time comes, they would have no choice other than to let me go and wouldn't be able to stop me...but I'm so stuck. Is this a dumb idea? I've got no idea on what to do, so any help would be amazing and appreciated tremendously.

Are you a boy or girl?