§ Mr. Hirstasked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement about higher education projections.
§ Mr. YoungerThe Scottish Education Department has today published a statistical bulletin on this subject. Copies have been placed in the Library.
The population changes reflected by the projections in the bulletin will have an important impact on decisions about the level and shape of higher education provision in the years to come. Points of particular importance include (a) the implications of the forecast long-term decline in the number of young entrants for the balance among the different sectors of higher education, and (b) the extent to which that decline might be offset by an increase in the number of mature students.
The projections are based on a number of assumptions which are fully explained in the bulletin. I wish to emphasise, however, that these assumptions are not to be regarded as constituting a declaration of Government policy in relation to any particular sector of education; nor do the projections themselves represent any particular target for student numbers.
I have no doubt that the figures contained in the bulletin will be of considerable interest to the new Scottish tertiary education advisory council which, as I have already announced, will come into being early next year; and I propose to ask the council to consider the implications.