Doctorates

HC Deb 19 May 1989 vol 153 cc309-10W

Mr. Flynn

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many doctoral research students at the Open university have been awarded doctorates in each year since 1979; and what has been the comparable average success in other United Kingdom universities.

Mr. Jackson

Numbers of training doctorates at the Open university are as follows:

	Number
1979	14
1980	13
1981	22
1982	31
1983	31
1984	45
1985	41
1986	54
1987	55
1988	39
1989	15

1 To date

A large proportion of Open university students research for their doctorates on a part-time basis. Information on average completion rates at the OU and at other United Kingdom universities is not readily available.