HC Deb 14 April 1981 vol 3 cc121-2W
Mr. Guy Barnett

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will now publish in the Official Report a table indicating the country of origin of overseas students enrolled for 1980–81 at British universities and at other institutions of further education in England and Wales for advanced and non-advanced courses, respectively.

Dr. Boyson

For the universities in Great Britain, provisional information on the country of domicile of overseas students in 1980–81 is available only for new entrants from selected countries. For all countries together the provisional figure for overseas new entrants in 1980 at undergraduate and postgraduate levels together was 14,800. The comparable figure for students on all years of course was 31,400. The following table gives the provisional new entrant figures for those countries with a high number of entrants in 1980; together these countries accounted for about 60 per cent. of all such entrants.

Provisional 1980 new entrants at both undergraduate and postgraduate level to universities in Great Britain
Number
Malaysia 1,833
USA 1,678
Hong Kong 1,034
Nigeria 973
West Germany 616
Greece 596
Iraq 421
Iran 357
Singapore 345
Canada 288
Cyprus 240

The available provisional information on the country of domicile of overseas students in colleges of further education in England and Wales in 1980–81 is in respect of all students and covers both advanced and non-advanced courses. For all countries together the provisional total was 35,700. The following table gives the figures for those countries with high numbers of students in 1980–81; together these countries accounted for more than 60 per cent. of all such students.

Provisional 1980 student numbers for both advanced and non-advanced levels at colleges of further education in England and Wales
Number
Malaysia 6,010
Iran 4,660
Hong Kong 3,870
Nigeria 3,400
Zimbabwe 1,130
Sri Lanka 910
Iraq 870
Cyprus 830
Jordan 670
Singapore 570
Libya 570