§ Mr. Andrew TurnerTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what is the age participation rate in(a) higher education and (b) first degree course for each year since 1980. [11032]
§ Margaret Hodge[holding answer 29 October 2001]: It is not possible to desegregate a separate participation rate for first degree undergraduates only.
The available information, showing the proportion of under-21-year-olds who enter higher education, is shown in the following table. There was an increase in entrant numbers in 1997–98, related partly to changes in the funding arrangements for higher education, with students choosing to enter HE rather than wait until 1998–99. There was a corresponding reduction in 1998–99 before the entry rates started to increase again in 1999–2000. Between 1996–97 and 2000–01, the total of HE students in English universities and colleges rose by 118,000.
Latest figures show that total acceptances to HE courses in autumn 2001 rose by 5.6 per cent.1
1 The API is defined as the number of home domiciled initial entrants to full-time and sandwich undergraduate HE aged under 21, expressed as a percentage of the average number of 18 and 19 year olds in the population.
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Age participation index (API), Great Britain Year of entry Percentage 1980 13 1981 13 1982 13 1983 13 1984 14 1985 14 1986 14 1987 15 1988 15 1989 17 1990 19 1991 23 1992 28 1993 30 1994 32 1995 32
Age participation index (API), Great Britain Year of entry Percentage 1996 33 1997 33 1998 31 1999 32 20001 32–34 1 Projected: final data on initial entrants are not yet available. Source:
UCAS
£ 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 Standards fund 2,100,980 2,689,725 3,501,381 9,490,717 13,824,907 16,640,731 Teachers pay reforms — — — — 3,317,167 1— Nursery education — 7,186,176 1,363,615 1,496,492 2,220,779 1— Early years development and childcare partnership (EYDCP) — — 123,000 506,300 789,810 21,466,762 Transitional insurance (former GM schools) — — — 40,407 21,039 597 School standards — — — — 4,355,000 9,071,000 School budget support — — — — 655,000 — Education budget support — — — — — 100,000 Statutory education action zones — — — — 772,000 815,000 Capital 7,389,000 8,455,000 13,059,000 10,925,000 24,531,000 1— 1 Not finalised. 2 Northamptonshire EYDCP has also been allocated £1,486,110 revenue funding and £634,440 capital funding in 2001–04 for the Neighbourhood Nurseries initiative for Northamptonshire. It will be up to the EYDCP to decide the breakdown between years. Figures for the amount of grants spent in an individual constituency or borough cannot be provided.