§ 23. Dr. MoonieTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to monitor quality in higher education provision; and if he will make a statement.
§ 96. Mr. FisherTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what steps he is taking to monitor quality in higher education provision; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. JacksonThe main responsibility for quality in higher education rests with the institutions themselves and their validating bodies. In addition, Her Majesty's inspectors continue to provide, through their published reports, an assessment of the quality of provision in the polytechnics and colleges sector. My right hon. Friend encourages the work in hand in both sectors of higher education to develop improved quality assurance measures and looks to the higher education funding councils and others to consider ways in which these could be used to secure the yet more effective use of the substantial public funds allocated to higher education.
§ 43. Mr. OppenheimTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the number of full-time students currently in higher education establishments; and what were the comparable figures for 1980.
Mr. JacksonInformation for academic year 1989–90 is not yet available centrally. Provisional figures for 1988–89 indicate that there were 628,000 full-time and sandwich students of higher education courses in Great Britain, compared with 521,000 in 1980–81.