§ 37. Mr. Longdenasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the sums allocated to university expansion will secure a student population of 150,000 in 1966 without loss of standards; and if that population will be large enough to satisfy the potential demand at that time.
§ Mr. BarberOn the first part of the Question, Exchequer grants to the universities for recurrent and non-recurrent expenditure will rise from £84.1 million in 1961–62 to an estimated minimum of about £130 million in 1966–67—an increase of 52 per cent. Student numbers will increase from 111,385 to 150,000 in the same period—an increase of 35 per cent. On the second part of the Question, the universities have estimated that the entry in 1966 should be more than 10,000 higher than in 1961, and will represent about the same percentage of the much larger age-group.