Mr. John D. TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what equal opportunity monitoring is conducted of students in universities in Northern Ireland; who is responsible for undertaking the monitoring; what are the proportions of Protestant and Catholic students at(a) the Queen's University, Belfast, (b) the University of Ulster at each of its campuses and (c) the Open University; and if she will make a statement. [45821]
§ Mr. WorthingtonThe Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), on behalf of the Department of Education Northern Ireland, gathers data on the gender, ethnicity, religion and disability of students in universities in Northern Ireland.
The figures from the provisional 1997–98 data in respect of Northern Ireland domiciled students are as follows: