HC Deb 30 November 1992 vol 215 cc40-1W
Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans his Department has to promote engineering within the national curriculum; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forth

The national curriculum provides a broad and balanced education for all pupils to the age of 16 as a basis for a wide range of further education, training and career aspirations. A number of national curriculum subjects, including mathematics, science, technology and art, offer pupils the opportunities to acquire fundamental knowledge, skills and understanding appropriate for the study of engineering post-16. The flexibility now available in the curriculum for 14 to 16-year-olds will allow those who wish to pursue vocationally related courses to do so at that stage.

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education if he will list the total number of (a) engineering and (b) electrical engineering graduates from (i) universities and (ii) other institutions for each year for the last five years; and if he will make a statement.

1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92
Universities (United Kingdom)
Engineering and technology of which 8,801 9,114 9,349 9,662 9,485
Electrical engineering 409 503 499 505 443
Polytechnics and colleges (England and Wales)
Engineering and technology of which 6,176 6,192 4,898 5,357 5,573
Electrical engineering 1,251 1,363 1,028 952 1,072

Note:

Due to a change in subject codes, graduate numbers from polytechnics and colleges for 1988 and earlier years are not directly comparable with data for 1989 and later years.

Sources:

University statistics, volume 2, table 3; examination results and first destinations survey, pack ref. 72/92.

Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for Education what plans his Department has to reduce non-completion rates of students on(a) engineering and (b) electrical engineering courses; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Forman

Universities and colleges have the prime responsibility to make their engineering courses attractive and their teaching effective so that completion rates are high. In his initial guidance to the Higher Education Funding Council for England, my right hon. Friend asked the council to make arrangements to monitor completion rates in all subjects in higher education and to consider, in due course, whether these should be reflected in the allocation of funds to institutions.