§ 28. Mr. Malcolm MacPhersonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what estimate he has made of the total number of men and women who are qualified for entrance to degree courses, and who desire to enter such courses, but who are unable to obtain places.
§ Mr. SimonThe report of an inquiry commissioned by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals shows that, judging from a sample of men and women applying for admission to universities in 1955–6, possibly between 2,000 and 2,500 who at least fulfilled the London degree entrance requirements failed to secure admission to any university then or later.
§ Mr. MacPhersonis not it a very unsatisfactory situation that such a large body of potential students who are qualified should be denied entrance to the university? Will the Financial Secretary approach the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals on the possibility of setting up some kind of clearing arrangement so that, to the extent that there are existent places in universities, at least that proportion of the waiting list can be accommodated?
§ Mr. SimonYes, there are two ways of dealing with this. The first is to increase the total number of places on the lines of the statement by my right hon. Friend recently, when he looked to a university population in the mid 'sixties of 30,000 more than the present figure. The universities are themselves considering what could be done to deal with those difficulties to which the hon. Gentleman referred and to ensure better co-ordination.