§ Mr. PatersonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of sixth formers in north Shropshire went to university in(a) 1997–98, (b) 1998–99, (c) 1999–2000, (d) 2000–01 and (e) 2001–02. [110073]
§ Alan JohnsonFigures for the number of students who enter higher education are not collated centrally by constituency. The latest available information, showing the proportion of 18-year-olds from Shropshire Local Education Authority (LEA) entering full-time undergraduate courses in the UK via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), is given in the table.
It should be noted that the proportions in the table are based only on the number of 18-year-olds entering full-time HE. This is a different definition to the Department's main measures of HE participation: the Age Participation Index (API), which measures the proportion of UK domiciled students who enter full-time HE by the age of 20, and the Initial Entry Rate (IER) which measures the proportion of 17–30-year-old English domiciled first time entrants to full or part-time HE. Neither the API nor the IER are calculated for each LEA, because of the lack of detailed data at local authority level.
Proportion of 18-year-olds entering full-time HE courses via UCAS Year of entry Students from: 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 Shropshire 21.5 23.3 22.8 24.3 24.1 26.3 Telford and the Wrekin1 2— 16.3 18.3 18.0 18.6 19.4 All English LEAs 20.5 20.0 20.0 20.6 21.5 22.0 1 As a result of Local Government Re-organisation Telford and Wrekin, which was previously part of Shropshire, became a separate LEA in 1998. 2 Not applicable.