§ Mr. RowlandsTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate her Department has made of the number of part-time students financed by the open university in 1995–96; and what the estimated change in part-time student numbers is expected to be. [21816]
§ Mr. ForthThe Department does not plan the student numbers of individual institutions. The Open University registered some 121,000 part-time students in 1995–96. The Department's student number estimates for the sector as a whole for England provide for an increase of around 4,000 full-time equivalent students in 1996–97 over the estimated student numbers for 1995–96. This includes an allowance for growth in part-time and mature students.