§ Mr. Jim CunninghamTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what estimate he has made of the number of mature students (a) entering and (b) graduating from higher education in each of the last five years. [108516]
396W
§ Mr. Wicks[holding answer 7 February 2000]: The latest available data are given in the tables. Mature students are defined as postgraduates aged 25 and over and undergraduates aged 21 and over. 1997 entrant numbers may have been inflated because entrants were influenced by the knowledge that fees would be introduced with effect from 1998. Comparable data for entrants and graduates in 1999–2000 will be published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency in April 2000 and February 2001 respectively.
Information published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), covering full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses only, shows that the number of applicants (young and mature combined) accepted for entry increased by 1.5 per cent. between autumn 1998 and autumn 1999.
Entrants1 to higher education institutions in the United Kingdom by age2 Thousand Aged under 25 25 and over Total Postgraduates 1994–95 54.6 118.2 172.8 1995–96 57.6 123.3 180.9 1996–97 56.7 115.9 172.7 1997–98 56.6 124.3 180.9 1998–99 59.5 129.9 189.4 Undergraduates 1994–95 247.4 256.7 504.1 1995–96 255.7 283.0 538.7 1996–97 259.8 282.1 541.9 1997–98 277.3 276.4 553.7 1998–99 276.8 272.7 549.5 1 Full-time and part-time 2 Ages as at 31 August in each academic year
Graduates1 from higher education institutions in the United Kingdom by age2 Thousand Aged under 25 25 and over Total Postgraduates 1994–95 26.7 63.6 90.3 1995–96 29.9 75.5 105.5 1996–97 30.7 78.7 109.3 1997–98 32.4 81.9 114.3 1998–99 32.9 82.7 115.6 Undergraduates 1994–95 73.3 223.7 297.0 1995–96 75.0 235.8 310.8 1996–97 76.5 240.9 317.5 1997–98 77.6 245.0 322.6 1998–99 82.8 248.5 331.3 1 Full-time and part-time 2 Ages as at August in each academic year