§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment (1) if he will take steps to encourage universities to publish data on the percentage of state school applications and admissions; [20516]
(2) how many, and which, universities currently publish data relating to the percentage of state school applications and admissions; [20517]
(3) how many, and which, universities currently publish data relating to the percentage of (a) applications and (b) admissions of candidates from ethnic minority backgrounds. [20518]
§ Dr. HowellsMy right hon. Friend welcomes the various Dearing Report recommendations on widening participation and has asked the Higher Education Funding Council for England to give priority in funding additional places to those institutions which can demonstrate a commitment to widening participation. We shall be monitoring the composition of applicants and new entrants to higher education as a whole. It is, however, for individual universities and colleges to determine whether or not to publish data on the characteristics of applicants and new entrants to their own institution. The Department does not keep a record of which universities do or do not publish such information, but we know that the universities of Oxford and Cambridge publish annually an analysis of applications and accepted applicants which includes details of the candidates' previous schooling. The Universities and College Admissions Service (UCAS) routinely provide each higher education establishment with detailed analyses of their applicants and accepted applicants through the bi-annual Management Statistics and the institutional datasets. Ethnicity data are available by institution within the Higher Education Management Statistics, available from the Higher Education Statistics Agency. With the authorisation of the institutions involved, UCAS can provide demographic details of applicants and accepted applicants to each institution.