§ Lord VAIZEYasked Her Majesty's Government:
What was the number of foreign students in British higher education on 1st January 1979, and what projections existed in April 1979 for the numbers in successive years in the 1980s.
§ Baroness YOUNGIn academic year 1978–79 there were about 58,500 overseas students at universities or on advanced courses at maintained, assisted and grant-aided establishments of further education in Great Britain. Future numbers of overseas students for whom public expenditure was planned by the last Government were given in the Government'sExpenditure Plans 1979–80 to 1982–83 Cmnd. 7439 (table on pages 132 and 133) which was published in January 1979. The introduction of full-cost fees for new overseas students in 1980–81 may effect actual students numbers but no reliable estimate of this can be made.