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Higher Education

Mrs. Anne Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what plans the Government have to consult students on higher education courses. [63936]

Margaret Hodge: Students' views are at the heart of the new arrangements for quality assurance in higher education, which will be introduced from September 2002. Students and graduates will be asked to rate their courses through a range of surveys and their views will be published. A national survey of graduates will be piloted in October 2002 and will be followed by full implementation in Autumn 2003.

Mr. Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of young people in each English county entered higher education in the latest year for which information is available; and if she will make a statement. [67106]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 8 July 2002]: The latest available information, showing the proportion of 18 year olds from each local education authority in England entering full-time undergraduate courses in the UK via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS), is shown in the table.

Our programmes to raise standards in schools and colleges will have a major impact on increasing participation in HE. We have introduced the Excellence Challenge in Excellence in Cities areas and Education Action Zones, working with young people from the age of 13, which, together with the AimHigher campaign, will encourage more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to aspire to HE. We are also encouraging more Higher Education Institutions to introduce a range

16 Jul 2002 : Column 185W

of measures to enable more people to participate in higher education including part-time learning and access programmes for mature students.

Proportion of English domiciled students aged 18 accepted through Ucas to full-time undergraduate courses in the UK autumn 2001 entry

Local Education Authority (LEA)	17 year old population in 2000	18 year olds accepted to HE in 2001	Proportion entering Higher Education percentage
Barking and Dagenham	2,029	231	11.4
Barnet	3,872	1,234	31.9
Barnsley	2,723	437	16.0
Bath and North East Somerset	1,913	479	25.0
Bedfordshire	4,729	1,119	23.7
Bexley	2,671	488	18.3
Birmingham	13,765	2,447	17.8
Blackburn with Darwen	2,059	368	17.9
Blackpool	1,734	254	14.6
Bolton	3,449	826	24.0
Bournemouth	1,564	363	23.2
Bracknell Forest	1,439	305	21.2
Bradford	6,797	1,209	17.8
Brent	3,177	976	30.7
Brighton and Hove	2,602	370	14.2
Bromley	3,163	989	31.3
Buckinghamshire	6,017	1,826	30.3
Bury	2,332	597	25.6
Calderdale	2,424	513	21.2
Cambridgeshire	6,711	1,467	21.9
Camden	1,929	359	18.6
Cheshire	8,179	2,491	30.5
City of Bristol	4,541	797	17.5
City of Derby	2,859	558	19.5
City of Kingston upon Hull	3,197	356	11.1
City of London	31	54	175.9
City of Westminster	2,032	330	16.2
Cornwall	6,012	1,303	21.7
Coventry	3,942	762	19.3
Croydon	4,125	1,038	25.2
Cumbria	5,931	1,305	22.0
Darlington	1,255	259	20.6
Derbyshire	8,620	1,891	21.9
Devon	8,323	1,710	20.5
Doncaster	3,886	711	18.3
Dorset	4,796	1,017	21.2
Dudley	3,731	753	20.2
Durham	6,540	1,191	18.2
Ealing	3,609	998	27.7
East Riding of Yorkshire	3817	883	23.1
East Sussex	5,769	1,188	20.6
Enfield	3,088	877	28.4
Essex	15,402	3,483	22.6
Gateshead	2,541	432	17.0
Gloucestershire	7,067	1,656	23.4
Greenwich	2,797	406	14.5
Hackney	2,286	319	14.0
Halton	1,793	293	16.3
Hammersmith and Fulham	1,444	295	20.4
Hampshire	15,830	3,617	22.8
Haringey	2,399	432	18.0
Harrow	2,770	1,059	38.2
Hartlepool	1,226	224	18.3
Havering	2,758	525	19.0
Herefordshire	2,015	503	25.0
Hertfordshire	12,421	3,401	27.4
Hillingdon	2,921	686	23.5
Hounslow	2,521	646	25.6
Isle of Wight	1,494	301	20.2
Isles of Scilly	18	10	55.9
Islington	1,849	302	16.3
Kensington and Chelsea	1,665	320	19.2
Kent	16,431	3,622	22.0
Kingston upon Thames	1,607	507	31.5
Kirklees	4,973	1,056	21.2
Knowsley	2,371	319	13.5
Lambeth	2,848	448	15.7
Lancashire	14,806	3,418	23.1
Leeds	8,655	1,743	20.1
Leicester City	3,758	826	22.0
Leicestershire	7,466	1,844	24.7
Lewisham	2,827	442	15.6
Lincolnshire	7,487	1,705	22.8
Liverpool	5,893	1,032	17.5
Luton	2,447	422	17.2
Manchester	5,955	715	12.0
Medway Towns	3,079	602	19.6
Merton	1,991	456	22.9
Middlesbrough	2,098	406	19.4
Milton Keynes	2,828	499	17.6
Newbury	2,138	448	21.0
Newcastle upon Tyne	3,239	754	23.3
Newham	3,421	688	20.1
Norfolk	9,044	1,624	18.0
North East Lincolnshire	2,124	339	16.0
North Lincolnshire	1,991	363	18.2
North Somerset	2,303	531	23.1
North Tyneside	2,374	417	17.6
North Yorkshire	7,397	1,882	25.4
Northamptonshire	8,030	1,726	21.5
Northumberland	4,094	916	22.4
Nottingham City	3,423	424	12.4
Nottinghamshire	9,230	1,913	20.7
Oldham	3,004	570	19.0
Oxfordshire	7,889	1,737	22.0
Peterborough	2,174	396	18.2
Plymouth	3,232	537	16.6
Poole	1,635	289	17.7
Portsmouth	2,174	306	14.1
Reading	1,637	348	21.3
Redbridge	2,962	944	31.9
Redcar and Cleveland	1,824	353	19.4
Richmond upon Thames	1,878	608	32.4
Rochdale	2,942	537	18.3
Rotherham	3,204	568	17.7
Rutland	746	118	15.8
Salford	2,804	359	12.8
Sandwell	3,772	594	15.7
Sefton	3,708	1,028	27.7
Sheffield	5,775	981	17.0
Shropshire	3,706	892	24.1
Slough	1,388	341	24.6
Solihull	2,545	757	29.7
Somerset	6,313	1,349	21.4
South Gloucestershire	2,758	497	18.0
South Tyneside	1,959	336	17.2
Southampton	2,397	395	16.5
Southend	1,900	350	18.4
Southwark	2,448	362	14.8
St Helens	2,304	503	21.8
Staffordshire	10,282	2,459	23.9
Stockport	3,633	919	25.3
Stockton-on-Tees	2,495	534	21.4
Stoke on Trent	3,119	502	16.1
Suffolk	8,006	1,679	21.0
Sunderland	3,905	617	15.8
Surrey	12,979	3,618	27.9
Sutton	2,011	558	27.7
Swindon	2,199	315	14.3
Tameside	2,823	407	14.4
Telford and the Wrekin	2,148	399	18.6
Thurrock	1,574	168	10.7
Torbay	1,489	278	18.7
Tower Hamlets	2,522	367	14.6
Trafford	2,857	710	24.9
Wakefield	3,974	749	18.8
Walsall	3,454	624	18.1
Waltham Forest	2,485	522	21.0
Wandsworth	2,100	501	23.9
Warrington	2,404	573	23.8
Warwickshire	6,311	1,553	24.6
West Sussex	8,658	1,910	22.1
Wigan	3,836	661	17.2
Wiltshire	5,426	1,283	23.6
Windsor and Maidenhead	1,876	464	24.7
Wirral	4,284	1,099	25.7
Wokingham	1,986	640	32.2
Wolverhampton	3,200	682	21.3
Worcestershire	6,735	1,549	23.0
York	2,161	533	24.7
Known total	610,936	131,254	21.5
Unknown	—	68	—
Total	610,936	131,322	21.5

Sources:

Office of National Statistics (ONS), Government Actuary Department (GAD),

Universities and Colleges Admissions Service(UCAS)

16 Jul 2002 : Column 187W

Mr. Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many (a) courses and (b) chairs in British universities are funded by the EU; and what process ensures the academic rigour and impartiality of these arrangements. [68648]

Margaret Hodge [holding answer 9 July 2002]: The European Commission co-funds, with Universities, courses and academic posts in relevant subjects via its Jean Monnet project. The project did not operate last academic year, but according to the Commission website, this programme contributed funding towards 94 academic posts and 209 course modules in UK universities in the year 2000. There will be another round of the project this year. The posts supported are referred to by the Commission as 'Chairs' but are not always professorships. Academic institutions make their own appointments, which are then subject to approval by the Commission. Further information about the Jean Monnet project and the activities it supports can be found on the European Commission website www.europa.eu.in/ comm/education

In addition to this source, UK universities and research institutions derive significant amounts of funding from the European Union's Framework Programmes for Scientific research. The Government do not however hold any figures on how many courses are being funded as a result of successful UK applications made under the Improving Human Potential Programme in this Programme.

The quality and standards of all the programmes and awards delivered by UK higher education institutions are encompassed within the quality assurance arrangements of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA). University Chairs are institutional appointments and as such, standards are a matter for institutions in respect of their own recruitment policies.

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