HC Deb 26 April 2004 vol 420 cc817-8W
Mr. Sheerman

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many undergraduate students from other EU member states have been accepted at United Kingdom universities in each of the past 10 years. [166736]

Alan Johnson

The available information is taken from the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) and cover EU domiciles accepted through UCAS to full-time first degree and HMD courses at UCAS member institutions in the UK. Early figures for 2004 entry show that EU applicants have risen by 14 per cent.

Mr. Gardiner

The Post-Primary Review Working Group considered alternative forms of academic selection but concluded that no alternative form of testing, or teacher assessment, would be any less problematical than the current arrangements; that age 11 is too early to commit pupils to particular pathways and that it is unsound to believe that the more able should follow only academic type courses.