HC Deb 08 December 1955 vol 547 c97W
96. Mr. Sorensen

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer the estimated total number of students who will be able to enter British universities for the next ten years; the present number of Commonwealth, British Colonial and foreign students in British universities out of the total number; and what is the probable percentage of these to be accepted during the next ten years.

Mr. H. Brooke

No firm estimate is possible, but there are grounds for expecting a gradual increase in the immediate future. The universities are studying the problem which they will have to meet in the 1960s, which will be accentuated by the rise in the birth rate after the war. As regards the second part of the Question, out of 81,705 full-time university students in 1954–55, 4,987 came from countries outside the United Kingdom but within the British Commonwealth, and 3,617 from foreign countries. It is not possible to estimate the number of such students who will be accepted in future.