§ Mr. Bishopasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if she will state the number and percentage of men and 171W women applying for courses each year since the establishment of the Open University. the comparable figures of enrolled students in this period, and the percentages of men and women, respectively,
1971 1972 1973 1. Applications 42,982 34,226 32,046 Men … 22,936 Men 20,061 (67 per cent.) (63 percent.) Women … 11,290 Women 11,985 (33 per cent.) (37 per cent. 2. Provisional registrations 24,122 20,498 Men … 13,775 — (67 per cent.) Women … 6,723 — (33 per cent.) 3. Final registrations 19,300 15,686 Men … 10,349 — (66 per cent.) Women … 5,337 — (34 per cent.) 4. Finally registered students who have subsequently withdrawn. 3,477 881* (18 per cent.) Men … 592 (5.7percent.)† Women … 289 (5.4 percent.) Notes: * This figure represents students who had withdrawn before the end-of-course examinations in November and is, therefore, not comparable with the 1971 figure. † The percentages are of the totals, of men and of women, finally registered for the 1972 courses.