§ 6. Sir Sydney Chapman (Chipping Barnet)How many full—time student enrolments there have been in this academic year. [138362]
§ The Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. David Blunkett)The most up-to-date information from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service shows that the increase in the total number of students, including mature students, accepted for entry to undergraduate courses in the autumn was almost 2 per cent. This year's final figure for full-time students will not be known until January.
§ Sir Sydney ChapmanI thank the right hon. Gentleman for that information. Will he say more about whether the decrease in the number of mature students applying has been checked or reversed? Will he confirm that, as a result of the introduction of tuition fees, there has been a huge hike in the number of student loans granted? Is he concerned about that with regard to student debt in future?
§ Mr. BlunkettThere has, so far, been an increase in the number of full-time mature students, although the figures for part-time mature students, whose number is growing by the year, will not be known until well into next year because such students do not participate in the UCAS system. However, we have introduced new measures to support and help mature students, which will come into force next September. In addition, through opportunity bursaries, we have encouraged those who are in the lower income bracket by ensuring they have £2,000 to support themselves when entering university and buying equipment and books. Of course, the number of students taking out loans has risen—we changed the system to an income-contingent loans system, repayable through the Inland Revenue in future years, when students can afford it. That is the simple reason for the increase.
§ Mr. Dale Campbell-Savours (Workington)On the opportunity bursaries bursary scheme, to which my right hon. Friend referred, is he aware of the desperate cry from the university of Central Lancashire that, for some reason that I do not understand, the scheme does not apply in either Lancashire or Cumbria? Has there been a miscalculation? Will my right hon. Friend examine this as a matter of great urgency, as it has been publicised in the north of England?
§ Mr. BlunkettThe scheme does not apply in the areas to which my hon. Friend has referred because, initially, we are providing it in excellence in cities and education action zone areas. We intend to develop it as a nationwide programme. The resources available to implement the scheme immediately led me to believe that we should target, first and foremost, the core areas that have the greatest problem in attracting and encouraging students to take up university places. The scheme will be combined with the major package of measures, amounting to more than £50 million, that I announced in July. It will target and encourage students throughout the country to take up university places.
§ Mr. Ian Bruce (South Dorset)The National Union of Students seems to be suggesting that some students are 426 giving up their courses part way through because of the level of their loan. They may want to return later. Is there any sign that this is happening and that more students are leaving their courses because they have decided that they cannot afford the amount of loan that they are likely to have at the end?
§ Mr. BlunkettThe Liberal Democrats tell me that the answer is yes. In fact, the answer is no. The information that the National Union of Students has been using refers, understandably, to available statistics, which referred to the old loan system and the old financing programmes. It is not possible to draw the conclusion that the hon. Gentleman has suggested. However, there is a challenge. The drop-out rate varies enormously from university to university if we compare like with like—the type of university, the background of students and the history of the university. We need to take on the challenge. There is clearly something amiss when as many as 30 per cent. or more of students in some of our universities are dropping out during their courses.
§ Dr. George Turner (North-West Norfolk)What is the percentage of full-time students who are having to pay fees? Some commentators suggest that 100 per cent. are having to do so. Am I right in thinking that the percentage is probably about half that? When will my right hon. Friend be in a position to assess the impact of the welcome measures to help part-time students? My experience is that mature students welcome the important part-time opportunity. When will we know whether the scheme is working?
§ Mr. BlunkettWe will not know whether the scheme is working until it is working. That is the honest answer. I am keen that we evaluate as quickly as possible the new measures that we are taking. We shall obviously report back to the House in due course.
On the first part of my hon. Friend's question, currently 42 per cent.—from the coming year, 50 per cent.—of full-time students will not pay towards their fees.
§ Mrs. Theresa May (Maidenhead)Will the Secretary of State confirm that the Government have failed to meet their targets for increased entry into higher education this year, and that the number of English students in Scottish universities has fallen by 15 per cent? Moreover, applications from state school pupils to Oxford have fallen as a result of the Chancellor's monstrous attack on that university. I am pleased to say that that attack was overwhelmingly rejected by Oxford students earlier this week in an Oxford Union debate, which neither the Chancellor nor any Education Minister was willing to attend to defend their position. Do not the falls in student numbers show that the Government's policies, especially the abolition of the maintenance grant, far from offering opportunities for all, are denying life chances to too many young people?
§ Mr. BlunkettThe Oxford Union is not a body that Ministers are obliged to attend, although it may have been in the past. Although there has been an increase in applications to Oxford—to which the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service procedures or the clearance 427 system do not apply—there has been a small drop in the number of applicants from the maintained sector. That has nothing to do with public debates, but it has a lot to do with whether we can target schools and colleges to persuade students to go to Oxford. I am heavily committed to doing precisely that, which is why we are putting resources behind it and working in partnership with the Sutton Trust.
On the broader question, first, there has not been a drop in the number of applications from students in lower income groups and such socio-economic backgrounds. Secondly, over the Conservative Government's last eight years in power, they cut student funding per unit by 36 per cent., so it takes the biscuit for Conservative Members to lecture us when we have announced that we are reversing, for the first time, the unit cost cut. We are putting more money in, opening the doors to more students and investing an extra 11 per cent. in real terms over the next three years. That increase has been welcomed by universities and students alike.