§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of students in (a) universities and (b) maintained sector advanced education, expressed as full-time equivalents.
§ Mr. BrookeIn 1983–84 the provisional total full-time equivalent student load in universities in Great Britain (excluding the Open University) was 304,800. The total full-time equivalent number of students in public sector higher education in Great Britain was 333,300. These two measures are not directly comparable because of differences in ways of converting part-time students into full-time equivalents.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of overseas students in (a) universities, (b) maintained sector advanced education and (c) non-advanced further education, for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. BrookeThe information is as follows:
25Win (a) universities, (b) maintained sector advanced education and (c) non-advanced further education, for each of the last 10 years; and what proportion were full-time and what proportion were part-time.
Students in universities and public sector higher education in Great Britain and non-advanced further education in England Total numbers and percentages full-time and part-time 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 Universities* Great Britain Total numbers (000s) 274.7 286.3 297.8 307–7 316.5 322.7 30.6 333.4 328.9 326.3 Percentage of which Full-time 91.2 91.3 91.3 91.2 91.1 90.7 90.3 90.0 89.8 89.4 Part-time 8.8 8.7 8.7 8.8 8.9 9.3 9.7 10.0 10.2 10.6 Public sector higher education Great Britain Total numbers (000s) 363.1 376.7 378.8 383.6 379.7 385.3 410.8 433.6 452.6 474.5 Percentage of which Full-time 65.0 64.4 63.8 61.4 57.6 56.5 54.1 55.8 57.0 57.7 Part-time 35.0 35.6 36.2 38.6 42.4 43.5 45.9 44.2 43.0 42.3 Non-advanced further education England Total numbers (000s) †1,583.4 †1,643.8 1,519.1 1,486.7 1,572.0 41,482.1 1,454.7 1,467.5 1,504.7 1,578.35 Percentage of which Full-time *13.8 *l4.9 17.8 18.6 18.3 19.5 20.4 22.3 23.6 21.8 Part-time †86.2 †85.1 82.2 81.4 81.7 80.5 79.6 77.7 76.4 78.2 *; Excluding the Open University. †Estimated.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the age participation index for students in full-time advanced further education in each country in the European Community.
§ Mr. Brooke:The information in the form requested is not available. Comparisons of participation indices in higher education between countries are influenced by the structure of higher education in each country, in particular by the age of entry and the length of course. In some EC countries students enter higher education later than in the United Kingdom and take longer to qualify.
A meaningful comparison can be obtained by showing new entrants of all ages to higher education as a percentage of the age group within a "typical age range". The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has published statistics on this basis.
The new entrant figures for the United Kingdom exclude students from abroad and also any known to have obtained already a higher qualification, such as postgraduates, graduates entering PGCE courses or teachers on in-;service training. It is not known whether other countries have limited their data in this way; certainly for Italy and the Netherlands, all first-;year students are the basis.
The following table shows the latest data available.
26W
New entrants to higher education as a percentage of the relevant age group* Country Year All higher education per cent Non-universityt† only per cent France‡ 1982 29.0 8.1 Germany 1982 21.2 6.3 Netherlands|║ 1982 26.0 16.7 Belgium ¶ .. ..
§ Mr. BrookeThe available information is as follows:
Country Year All higher education per cent Non-universityt† only per cent Denmark 1980 32.7 18.2 Spain 1980 28.3 10.6 Italy≑ 1981 25.1 ●.. Luxembourg■ .. .. Ireland .. .. Greece .. .. United Kingdom* 1983 26.7 17.5 . . Not available. *Average of age groups normally corresponding to entry to higher education. †Defined by each country based on their own classification of higher education, and therefore not fully comparable. ‡Excludes new entrants to the "Grandes Ecoles". Data on non-university type education refer to UIT (University Institute of Technology) and higher technicians only. ≑First-year students. ¶ In 1981 the percentage for universities only was 12.9. ●Minimal; in 1976, 4 per cent. of first-year students entered non-university higher education. ■ Higher education students mainly study outside Luxembourg. *Includes part-time students. Excludes students from abroad, and also any known to have obtained already a higher qualification, such as postgraduates. Excludes private sector and entrants to nursing diploma courses.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how many postgraduate students there are in universities, broken down into numbers of home and overseas students; and what are the equivalent figures for each of the last 10 years;
(2) how many postgraduate students there are in maintained sector advanced education, broken down into the numbers of home and overseas students; and what are the equivalent figures for each of the last 10 years.
§ Mr. BrookeThe information is as follows: 27W
Postgraduates: Great Britain (000s) Universities Public sector higher education Home Overseas Home Overseas Part-time Full-time Full-time Part-time Full-time Full-time 1974–75 21.0 31.8 16.0 * * * 1975–76 21.5 32.6 17.2 * * * 1976–77 22.5 32.3 18.0 8.4 11.0 1.1 1977–78 23.4 30.8 18.1 9.3 9.8 1.2 1978–79 24.3 30.6 17.7 11.6 9.8 1.5 1979–80 25.9 30.2 17.5 11.6 11.6 1.4 1980–81 27.4 31.1 16.5 12.3 12.1 1.4 1981–82 28.2 30.8 16.1 13.3 12.1 1.4 1982–83 28.3 29.5 15.9 13.8 10.5 1.3 1983–84 29.0 30.6 16.9 14.0 10.8 1.3 * Not available.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the comparable unit cost in universities and maintained sector advanced education for each year since 1978–79 in cash terms and in cost terms at 1984–85 prices.
§ Mr. BrookeAverage unit costs for the different sectors of higher education are not readily comparable because of the different mix of subjects in each sector and the different financial years in which they operate. A paper on funding comparisons across the sectors of higher education was published in May 1985 entitled "Higher Education: Comparisons of Funding Across Sectors." It
University participation indices (GB) Percentages Age participation index (API) Qualified participation index (QPI) Young mature entry index (YMEI) Older mature participation index (OMPI) 1980–81 7.5 50.7 2.6 0.052 1981–82 7.4 48.1 2.3 0.051 1982–83 6.9 43.7 1.9 0.048 1983–84 6.6 40.6 1.8 0.048 1984–85 (provisional) 6.9 41.9 n/a n/a
University home student numbers (GB) Actual Provisional 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 †l984–85 Full-time and sandwich Undergraduates (000s) 238 235 229 226 Of which; admissions (000s) 75 72 70 71 Postgraduates (000s) 31 29 31 31 Age participation index (per cent.) 7.4 6.9 6.6 6.9 Part-time Total (000s)* 33 34 35 Not available * Excluding the Open University. † The figures quoted for 1984–85 are early estimates of actual student numbers. They should not therefore be compared with the projections in Cmnd. 9428 of students numbers in 1984–85 for higher education as a whole. No projections for university numbers are shown. As recorded in Cmnd. 9524 (para 3.8) the Government have asked the advisory bodies to consider the optimum distribution of students between sectors in the medium and longer terms.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many university applicants there were in each year since 1978–79; and how many candidates were finally accepted in each of those years.
28Wcovers the financial years 1980–81 to 1986–87. No similar analysis is available for earlier years. Copies of the paper are in the Library and I am sending one to the hon. Member.