HC Deb 18 December 1987 vol 124 c761W
Mr. Cohen

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many students are in the final year of a science degree in the current year; what proportion that figure is of the total number of students in their final year; and what is his best estimate of the total number of students over the next three years.

Mr. Jackson

In 1986–87 it is estimated that there were 24,200 final year full-time and sandwich students in Great Britain on science first-degree courses, 21 per cent. of all final year first-degree students.

Projections of fiscal year students are not available. The total number of science graduates, including those from part-time courses, in Great Britain in 1985–86 was 24,800, 21 per cent. of all first-degree graduates, and is projected to increase to 25,800, 26,800 and 26,100 in 1986–87, 1987–88 and 1988–89 respectively.