HC Deb 14 January 1980 vol 976 cc572-3W
Mr. Alfred Morris

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how much of the income of the Royal postgraduate medical school in Hammersmith derives from fees paid for overseas students by his Department; by how much this figure will be reduced by his change of policy; and if he is satisfied that the school's reduced income from this source will in no way affect its viability;

(2) how much of the income of the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine derives from fees paid for overseas students by his Department; by how much this figure will be reduced by his change of policy; and if he is satisfied that the school's reduced income from this source will in no way affect its viability.

Dr. Boyson

No fees are paid by my Department in respect of overseas students at either the Royal postgraduate medical school or the London school of hygiene and tropical medicine. The University of London is entirely responsible for the distribution between these and other of its constituent colleges of the grant made available to it through the University Grants Committee.

It is not possible to assess the extent to which any particular institution within a university will have its resources reduced following the decision to remove progressively the current subsidy relating to overseas students, or what effect this will have on the work of that institution. This is partly because it is not possible at this stage to predict what reduction there might be in the number of overseas students as a result of this decision, partly because decisions have not yet been taken by the Government on the level of recurrent grant to be made available to universities as a whole in 1980–81 and subsequent academic years, partly because the allocation of grants to individual universities is a matter for the University Grants Committee, and partly because, as already intimated, it is for each university to determine the internal distribution of the grant it receives.