§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether there are any plans to increase the number of bursaries offered to United Kingdom students at the college of Europe.
Mr. JacksonThe college of Europe at Bruges offers postgraduate courses in administrative, economic and legal studies, in preparation for employment in European Community institutions and similar fields. The Government wish to enable more United Kingdom students to take advantage of these valuable opportunities. We therefore intend to increase substantially the number of bursaries we offer, from four currently to 21 in the academic year 1990–91. Of these, 17 will be provided by my Department for students from England and Wales. My right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Northern Ireland will increase their provision to two bursaries each. The additional cost will be met from within 275W existing public expenditure plans. We envisage further increasing the United Kingdom total bursaries offered to 30 in 1991–92. Existing arrangements for selecting students will continue.