§ Mr. WillisTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment for each of the years from 1997–98 to 2000–01, what is the total resource allocation awarded to universities and other higher education institutions from public funds; what is the total number of actual and projected full-time equivalent higher education students; and what is the average level of resource allocation from public funds to each student. [77882]
§ Mr. MudieThe following table sets out the Government's plans for higher education over the period 1997–98 to 2000–01. The plans are expressed in terms of publicly planned funding for higher education, including private contributions towards tuition fees which institutions will retain.
The table shows total publicly planned resources for higher education, the total number of actual and projected full-time equivalent student numbers, and the average unit of funding per student.
Publicly planned higher education funding (cash)1 and student numbers in England £ million 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 Grants to HEFCE & TTA 3,667 3,674 4,138 4,268 Additional HEFCE grants earmarked for capital investment in: infrastructure and IT — — 35 50 research — — 50 100 Estimated tuition fee income: public contributions from LEAs 997 1,006 599 520 private contributions from students — 130 235 333 Funds for measures to widen access 22 41 74 76 Total publicly planned funds 4,686 4,851 5,131 5,347 Total FTE students2 (thousands) 1,014 1,019 1,035 1,052 Unit of funding3 (£ per FTE) 4,600 4,720 4,800 4,870 1Publicly planned funds for higher education include grants to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and, from 1995, to the Teacher Training Agency (TTA) for both recurrent and capital purposes. In addition the plans take account of publicly planned tuition fee income and funds for specific measures to widen access which go mainly to the students.
2FTE student numbers cover all home and other EU undergraduate and postgraduate students studying both full and part-time in English universities and colleges.
641W3The unit of funding per FTE is based on publicly planned HE funds excluding earmarked grants for capital investment and the research infrastructure, and funds for specific measures to widen access. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £10. The figures are consistent with grant letters to the HEFCE and are different to those in my answer on 7 December 1998, Official Report col. 90, which required adjustment for consistency with the figures provided there for earlier years.