GreenwayMr. asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) how many students have been in full-time attendance at adult education colleges during each of the past 10 years; and how many are expected to be during each of the next three years;
(2) how many adult education colleges have been (a) opened and (b) closed during each of the past 10 years; and what closures are projected for the year ahead.
§ Dr. BoysonThere are at present five adult education colleges in England with which my right hon. and learned Friend is directly concerned. These are the long-term residential colleges one of which, Northern, opened in 1978 and another, Fircroft, closed in 1975 but is expected to reopen this autumn. No closures are expected for the year ahead.
These colleges provide full-time courses of one or two years' duration, on which numbers of students in the past 10 years were:
1970–71 489 1971–72 461 1972–73 475 1973–74 461 1974–75 428 1975–76 440 1976–77 404 1977–78 380 1978–79 368 1979–80 389 Numbers of students up to and including 1977–78 include those at a similar college in Wales whose funding is now the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.
313WThe overall number of student places available is expected to increase during the next three years with the reopening of Fircroft college.