§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will publish(a) the number of students undertaking postgraduate university courses for (i) MA and (ii) PhD degrees in the arts and humanities and (b) the amount of finance provided by his Department to help sustain such students in each of the past five years. [94673]
§ Mr. WicksThe available data for both student numbers and expenditure for the five most recent years are shown in the following tables.
Students on Arts and Humanities1 courses in HE institutions in the UK Academic year MA PhD 1994–95 97,133 20,524 1995–96 107,338 23,523 1996–97 108,375 25,924 1997–98 113,282 26,849 1998–992 112,547 27,082 1 Excludes students on Combined courses who may study Arts and Humanities as part of their course. 2 Provisional data. 547W
Departmental postgraduate expenditure 1 for the UK Financial year £ million 1994–95 18.3 1995–96 18.5 1996–97 18.0 1997–98 18.3 1998–99 18.8 1 The Department allocates expenditure on postgraduate courses as a whole and it is not therefore possible to separately identify expenditure on MA and PhD courses.
§ Mr. WigleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to increase the funds available to support students undertaking postgraduate courses in the arts and humanities; and if he will make a statement. [94674]
§ Mr. WicksMy right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, welcomed the establishment of the Arts and Humanities Research Board to allocate postgraduate awards and research grants for arts and humanities courses. The total funding of the Board is over £44 million in 1999–2000, which includes funds for postgraduate arts and humanities courses. Decisions about the level of future funding for postgraduate courses in arts and humanities are under consideration.