§ Mr. BreedTo ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many students enrolled this year as(a) undergraduates and (b) postgraduates on a pure agriculture course as in each of the last five years. [9600]
§ Margaret HodgeI have been asked to reply.
The total number of entrants to courses in agriculture for the five years since 1996–97 are given in the table; comparable figures for 2001–02 will not be available until April 2002. The latest available data for 2001 entry published by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) show that the number of applicants accepted for entry to full-time and sandwich undergraduate courses in agriculture was 2,707, an increase of 1.7 per cent. compared to the same point last year. The overall increase in accepted applicants in 2001 is 5.6 per cent. UCAS does not cover applicants to part-time or postgraduate courses.
Entrants to courses in agriculture1—UK HE Institutions Postgraduate Undergraduate Total 1996–97 544 2,841 3,385 1997–98 507 3,529 4,036 1998–99 504 3,303 3,807 1999–2000 518 3,039 3,557 2000–01 655 3,252 3,907 1 Full-time and part-time, home and overseas students