HL Deb 06 November 2003 vol 654 cc147-8WA
Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What is the average rate of funding per student at British universities; and how it compares (adjusted for inflation) with the average rate of funding 10 years ago. [HL5114]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Department for Education and Skills (Baroness Ashton of Upholland)

Scotland and Wales are devolved administrations. The information for higher education institutions in England is shown in the table below:

Unit funding per students £s real terms
HE
1993–94 6,170
1994–95 6,000
1995–96 5,740
1996–97 5,360
1997–98 5,200
1998–99 5,200
1999–2000 5,190
2000–01 5,130
2001–02 5,170
2002–03 5,170

The Government made a commitment in the 2000 spending review to increase the funding per student from 2001–02. As a result of the 2002 spending review publicly planned spending per FTE in higher education will rise by 7 per cent in real terms between 2002–03 and 2005–06. Information for Northern Ireland is not available on a comparable basis.

Lord Lester of Herne Hill

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How funding levels for British universities compare with funding levels for state and private universities in the United States. [HL5115]

Baroness Ashton of Upholland

The publicationEducation at a Glance for 2003 reports expenditure per tertiary student in the USA of 20,358 US dollars and 9,657 US dollars for a student in the UK in 2000. The figures include both public and private expenditure. The relative proportions of public to private expenditure at tertiary level in 2000 are 67.7:32.3 for the UK and 33.9:66.1 for the USA.