§ 48. Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will make a statement on the level of supply and demand for places with the Open University in the forthcoming academic year.
§ Mr. WaldenThe university predicts that it will receive about 58,500 applications for the 1987 academic year. It expects to make some 35,400 offers in order to fill the 22,000 places available.
§ Mr. Andrew F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what was the value of the Government grant to the Open University for each year since 1971–72 in cash terms, constant 1985–86 prices and indexed using 1971–72 as a base, including and excluding Government loans to the institution; and what was and is the number of undergraduates studying at the institution on degree courses for each year.
§ Mr. WaldenThe information is as follows:
§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if he will set out the number of students in (a) universities and (b) public sector institutions who are taking mixed honours degrees composed of more than one subject and indicate the proportions which these represent of the total number of undergraduates in each case;
(2) how many students in (a) universities and (b) public sector institutions are following courses of study based on single subjects and mixed subjects, respectively; and what were the equivalent figures in each year from 1970 to the latest available date.
§ Mr. WaldenThe required information for further education and public sector higher education could be extracted only at disproportionate cost. Equivalent information for universities not currently collected. The number of students on modular first degree courses in public sector institutions in England, in 1984, was 6,400 135W which represented 3.6 per cent. of all first degree students in the public sector. The revised subject classification 136W introduced for the collection of 1985 university statistics will in future enable students studying combinations of subjects to be identified.
137W
§ Mr. Formanasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students in (a) universities and (b) public sector institutions are following courses of study as undergraduates of two years, three years and more than
Full-time and sandwich new entrants thousands Academic year beginning 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 Universities (GB) Undergraduate 2 year* 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.6 3 year 80.7 62.1 59.8 56.4 53. 5 54.5 4 or more years 18.5 18.3 19.0 19.6 20. 1 Public sector (England) First degree only 2 year† 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 3 year 26.2 27.9 32.7 33.3 32.2 31.5 4 or more years 12.9 13.3 16.5 18.8 19.0 19.8 * Mainly diploma students. † These are likely to be entrants who have been granted exemption from the 1st year(s) of the course.
§ Mr. Radiceasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the young mature entry index for higher education in each year since 1974.
§ Mr. Kenneth BakerThe available figures for the young mature entry index, which is defined as the number of home full-time and sandwich initial entrants aged 21 to 24 expressed as a percentage of the numbers of "potential entrants" in the age group, are shown in the following table. In this context "potential entrants" means those with one or more A-levels or Scottish equivalent who did not enter higher education at younger ages.
Young mature entry indices to higher education in Great Britain Academic year beginning 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 *1985 Men 10.8 10.8 10.5 10.4 10.8 11.5 Women 4.9 4.8 4.5 4.3 4.6 4.9 * Provisional.