§ Mr. YeoTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills to which universities he was referring in his statement to the House on 8 January when he made reference to modern universities which have strong records in recruiting students from poorer backgrounds. [148532]
§ Alan JohnsonThe Secretary of State was not referring to specific universities but making a general point. The following table, taken from data published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, shows the 11 universities with the highest proportion of entrants from the three lowest social classes.
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Proportion of young full-time first degree entrants from social classes IIIN, IV, V1 2001–02 Proportion University of Wolverhampton 45 University of East London 42 University of North London 42 London Guildhall University 41
Proportion of young full-time first degree entrants from social classes IIIN, IV, V1 2001–02 Proportion University of Luton 41 University of Westminster 40 University of Sunderland 39 University of Central England 39 Coventry University 39 Middlesex University 38 University of Teesside 38 1 Skilled manual, semi-skilled and unskilled. Source: Performance Indicators in Higher Education in the UK Table T1A, published by HEFCE.