§ Mrs. Winifred Ewingasked the Secretary of State for Scotland what proportion of overseas students study in Scotland; and what proportion of the £100 million a year which it costs to subsidise overseas students is incurred in Scotland.
§ Mr. McElhoneThe provisional number of overseas students at Scottish universities is over 4,000 in the current academic session—or about 11 per cent. of the total—and it is estimated that the cost to public funds is of the order of £8 million. In 1977–78, the latest year for which information is available, there were 1,730 overseas students at non-university fur-656W ther education establishments in Scotland—or about 3 per cent. of the total; the estimated cost to public funds was over £1 million.