HC Deb 23 February 1987 vol 111 cc47-50W
Dr. Marek

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what estimate he can make of the cost of (a) arts and (b) science-based university students studying for initial degrees; what variations there are within (a) the Arts and (b) the sciences; and how these variations are reflected in the recurrent grant and other moneys distributed to the universities.

Mr. Walden

The following figures relate to all university students and costs include the costs of research funded via the University Grants Committee. Information is not available in respect of first degree study alone. The estimated average net recurrent institutional expenditure per student in the 1984–85 academic year was £3,930 for arts subjects and £6,320 for science subjects.

Information is not readily available on variation in the overall costs per student within the arts. The average cost for students of clinical medicine, dentistry and veterinary science was estimated to be £8,670. The equivalent estimate for other science subjects is £5,960, and for all subjects £5,210.

The UGC's method for allocating recurrent grant is described in circular letter 22/85 (a copy of which is in the Library). It takes account of variations in the relative costs of 37 subject-related cost centres.

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the percentage change in real terms, measured by the gross domestic product deflator, in the funding of each university by the University Grants Committee between 1980–81 and 1987–88, excluding those amounts representing compensation for changes in home student fees, compensation for redundancy and early retirement, changes to take account of minor capital works from the recurrent grant and changes in the level of local authority rates (a) including and (b) excluding additions made for the information technology and new blood programmes; and if he will give similar figures for the provisional distribution to 1989–90.

Mr. Walden

[pursuant to his reply, of 19 February 1987]: It is not possible to answer this question in the form requested—and in any event such figures would be an unrealistic representation of the overall changes in grants to universities since 1980–81. The following table sets out the proportionate real terms changes (taking account of the GDP deflator) in recurrent grants to each univeristy between 1980–81 and (a) the UGC's initial allocation for 1987–88, and (b) the UGC's provisional basic distribution for 1989–90. For each academic year the grant figures used exclude amounts for local authority rates and for capital works from recurrent grant. No specific provision has been made in the total of university funding, or the allocations to individual universities, for 1987–88 and later years for the change in levels of home fees in 1982–83, the 1982–84 redundancy and early retirement scheme, or the 1983–86 information technology and new blood programmes. The UGC will be announcing suppletnentary allocations of recurrent grant for 1987–88 later this year. The committee's provisional basic distribution for 1989–90 also totals less than the amount which the Government plan to make available for university funding in that year.

Percentage change in recurrent grant since 1980–81
University 1987–88 initial allocation 1989–90 provisional basic distribution
Aston -21.0 -25.1
Bath +13.6 +202
Birmingham -5.9 -8.4
Bradford -21.2 -23.4
Bristol +0.4 +4.5
Brunel -11.2 -12.9
Cambridge +5.2 +7.3
City -15.8 -18.8
Durham -0.3 -5.4
East Anglia -1.0 -11.9
Essex -2.4 -3.8
Exeter -1.4 +0.8
Hull -4.6 -8.1
Keele -26.5 -31.7
Kent +1.6 +4.2
Lancaster +1.8 +1.0
Leeds -4.7 -6.5
Leicester +5.9 +62
Liverpool -8.8 -10.6
London Graduate School of Business Studies +23.7 +4.8
London University -8.1 -7.9
Loughborough +14.0 +13.5
Manchester Business School -27.6 -48.3
Manchester -2.7 -2.3
University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology -20.1 -21.5
Newcastle +0.4 -4.0
Nottingham +0.3 +0.4
Oxford +1.2 +2.1
Reading -4.4 -6.3
Salford -32.9 -35.1
Sheffield -5.0 -8.2
Southampton +7.7 +10.6
Surrey -14.5 -16.9
Sussex -3.4 -0.1
Warwick +15.2 +18.6
York +24.0 +29.7
Aberystwyth University College -7.4 -10.8
Bangor University College -6.2 -16.8
Cardiff University College -6.1 -9.5
St. David's Lampeter +20.8 +20.1
Swansea University College -5.3 -11.1
University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology -7.4 -7.1
Welsh National School of Medicine -2.1
Aberdeen -16.5 -23.8
Dundee -12.6 -24.0

University 1987–88 initial allocation 1989–90 provisional basic distribution
Edinburgh -4.5
Glasgow +3.6 +3.7
Heriot-Watt +4.6 +3.2
St. Andrews -8.2 - 10.5
Stirling -13.0 -16.9
Strathclyde +2.5 +1.7
Total -4.5 -5.7