HC Deb 28 November 1988 vol 142 cc79-80W
Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many university applicants there were in each year since 1979; how many candidates were finally accepted in each of those years; and what percentage this represented in each of those years.

Mr. Jackson

Applicants and acceptances through the Universities Central Council on Admissions scheme for universities in the United Kingdom were as follows:

Academic year of entry Applicants Acceptances Percentage accepted
1979 166,362 82,398 49.5
1980 168,354 84,695 50.3
1981 167,096 80,341 48.1
1982 171,496 77,752 45.3
1983 172,738 74,860 43.3
1984 173,674 77,431 44.6
1985 176,553 82,889 46.9
1986 173,779 84,524 48.6
1987 176,246 86,546 49.1

UCCA accepted home candidates
Academic years
1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987
Number of (Thousands)
III M skilled manual 10.1 8.3 8.0 7.8 8.2 8.9 8.7 9.2
IV partly skilled 3.2 2.8 3.2 3.8 4.1 4.6 4.8 4.7
V unskilled 0.7 0.7 0.6 0.7 0.7 0.8 0.8 0.8
Total all known social class 72.1 67.2 66.5 63.0 65.8 69.8 69.8 71.4
Percentage of
III M skilled manual 14.0 12.3 12.2 12.4 12.4 12.7 12.5 12.9
IV partly skilled 4.4 4.2 4.9 6.0 6.2 6.6 6.9 6.6
V unskilled 1.0 1.0 0.9 1.1 1.1 1.2 1.2 1.1

Mr. Andrew F. Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) if he will list in theOfficial Report the age distribution of students in (a) further and (b) higher education according to the following ranges: 18 to 21 years, 22 to 25 years, 26 to 35 years, 35 to 50 years and 50 plus years;

(2) at the latest available date, how many people in Great Britain aged 16 years or over were in (a) schools, (b) sixth-form colleges, (c) further education colleges,

Numbers of pupils/students continuing their education aged 16 and over: United Kingdom, 1986–87 Home students (thousands)
Age at 31 August 1986
16 17 18 Total 16 to 18 19 to 20 21 to 24 25 and over All students
Full-time and sandwich students
Schools1 282 174 24 480 3 — — 483
Further education2 148 114 57 318 31 20 40 409
Higher education in further education establishments — 4 38 42 110 83 48 283
of which polytechnics3 — 2 25 27 71 54 27 179
Universities — 5 45 50 119 76 28 273
Total full-time and sandwich students1 430 296 164 890 263 179 116 1,448
of which higher education 1 8 83 92 229 159 76 556

Until 1982, applications for places in the university of Aberdeen, and until 1985 those for the universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde were partly outside the UCCA scheme. The earlier figures are, therefore, not strictly comparable with the later ones because of changes in the number of institutions within the scheme.