§ Mr. SandersTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will make a statement on the OECD figures for higher education expenditure per student in each year since 1992 for(a) the United Kingdom, (b) each other EU country, (c) Pacific rim countries and (d) the USA. [5131]
§ Dr. Howells[holding answer 25 June 1997]: The OECD's Education at a glance figures are at present available only for 1992 and 1993: copies are available in the Library. Comparisons between the figures for these years are particularly difficult because of changes in the basis of some of the calculations. In the case of the UK, these changes account for some of the 20 per cent. decline in the UK's spending per student per year on tertiary 20W education between these years. The 1993 figures show that the UK spends more per student on tertiary education than Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan and New Zealand; but less than Austria, Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and the USA.