§ Mr. John Pageasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) whether he will take steps to expand the Work Study School at Cranfield, in view of the usefulness and popularity of the courses provided there and the need to spread the practices of modern scientific management throughout British industry;
(2) whether the Work Study School at Cranfield will become part of the recently announced Department of Industrial Management; how many students attended the Work Study School at Cranfield last year; what was the total income; how much of this income came from the University Grants Council and how much from local authority grants; and what were the total fees paid by industry and outside organisations for students attending these courses.
§ Mr. CroslandAs regards the relationship between the Work Study School and the Chair of Industrial Management136W at Cranfield, and the question of future expansion, I would refer the hon. Member to the replies which I gave to the hon. Members for Sheffield, Hallam (Mr. J. H. Osborn) and Devizes (Mr. Charles Morrison) on 15th July. The total number of students attending the School during the academic year 1964–65 was 623. The total income for the financial year 1964–65 was £55,165, of which £55,131 was derived from tuition fees and £33 from miscellaneous sales. The tuition fees, all of which were paid on behalf of students by sponsoring firms and organisations, included £414 paid by local authorities. No other income was received from local authorities and the School received no income from the University Grants Committee or my Department.
§ Mr. John Pageasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, what is the total value of recurrent and non-recurrent grants, respectively, allocated to the Cranfield College of Aeronautics for the current year; what will be the figure for next year; what is the cost of these grants per student; and how this cost per student compares with the national average.
§ Mr. CroslandThe figures are as follows:
Financial year 1964–65 Recurrent grant Capital grant £ £ Issued 865,000 28,995 Cost per full-time equivalent student 2,390 80 1965–66 Approved 825,000 103,500 Estimated cost per fulltime equivalent student 2,070 260 Figures for 1966–67 are not yet available.
Non-recurrent grant amounting to £96,005 was also made to the College in 1964–65, and £66,500 was estimated to be required in 1965–66, for the construction of premises at Cranfield to house the British Hydromechanics Research Association. The premises will be leased to the Association for its own purposes, and the expenditure, therefore, is not related to costs per student at the College.
The College is the only exclusively postgraduate technological teaching institution of its kind in the country, and no comparison of the kind sought in the latter part of the Question is available.
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§ Mr. John Pageasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, what action on the cost investigation referred to in the Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts has now been taken in connection with the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield.
§ Mr. CroslandMeasures introduced by the College of Aeronautics in consultation with my Department during 1963 and subsequent years have resulted in significant reductions in costs, including those of ancillary services, and improved accounting procedures. Between January, 1963 and January, 1965, total staff employed by the College were reduced from 703 to 549; the deficit on the halls of residence, which amounted in 1963–64 to nearly £23,000, is expected to be eliminated in the current financial year; airfield operating costs for 1965–66 are estimated at less than £17,000 compared with £35,000 in 1962–63; and considerable economies have been achieved in transport, and works and other services.
The staff and student housing account is now self-financing, and a new pattern and level of rents has been introduced from 1st April this year. This is subject to further revision in two years' time Contract work has been reorganised and separated from the other activities of the College, and will be accounted for on a self-financing basis. The budgets of the Work Study School and the Advanced School of Automobile Engineering now make allowance for the general services rendered to them by the College.
The general effect of these measures, coupled with a large increase in the student population since 1962–63, has resulted in a progressive reduction in the net cost per student from the £4,000 mentioned in the Fourth Report of the Committee of Public Accounts to a figure estimated at a little over £2,000 in the current year.