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1 Sept 2003 : Column 774W—continued

Training and Enterprise Council

Paul Holmes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills when the training and enterprise councils published their final accounts; from where copies can be obtained; and if he will make a statement. [120017]

Margaret Hodge: My Department holds copies of the audited statutory accounts for all 72 TECs in England for their final financial year of operation which ended on 25 March 2001.

Transferable Key Skills

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if assessment of key skills through vocational settings will be balanced by general testing of competencies in transferable key skills. [126783]

Mr. Ivan Lewis: Assessment of the key skills qualifications in Communication, Application of Number and Information Technology already combines a portfolio of evidence taken from the mainstream programme (whether vocational or academic) with a short external test.

University Admissions

Mr. Boswell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students he estimates will defer entry to university in the academic years (a) 2004–05, (b) 2005–06 and (c) 2006–07; and what action he will take to smooth any variation in numbers taking up their courses in those years. [126780]

Alan Johnson: The Department does not have information to forecast the number of students that will defer entry to university in the academic years in question.

We have set out our plans for funding and student numbers in the period up to 2005–06 in the HE White Paper and in the Secretary of State's Grant Letter to the Higher Education Funding Council for England. We have no plans to intervene in the normal processes of application and admissions to universities.

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Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he has made an estimate of the number of pupils likely to attend overseas universities as a result of the impact of Office for Fair Access on UK university admissions. [118066]

Alan Johnson: The Department has made no such estimates.

The Government are committed to increasing and widening participation in higher education, and the Office of Fair Access is one of the policies that supports that goal.

University Research Ratings

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills (1) how many 5 and 5* rated research departments there are in universities in Liverpool; [124214]

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Alan Johnson: The University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University have a combined total of 22 departments that received a 5 or a 5* rating in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. 1,604 research active academic staff (full time equivalents) were included in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise by higher education institutions in the North West region in departments which have had their research grants reduced or discontinued in 2003–04. In the North West region of England as a whole, the following Units of Assessment are facing a reduction of removal of research grants between 2002–03 and 2003–04. The numbers of Departments affected within each subject unit are given in brackets.

Name of Unit of Assessment:

Clinical Dentistry (2)Economics and Econometrics (2)
Anatomy (1)Politics and International Studies (4)
Pharmacy (1)Social Policy and Administration (3)
Environmental Sciences (1)Sociology (4)
Statistics and Operational Research (3)Russian, Slavonic and East European Languages (1)
General Engineering (5)History of Art, Architecture and Design (1)
Town and Country Planning (3)Philosophy (5)
Geography (4)Education (6)

University Students

Helen Southworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what evidence he has collated on the equity of participation by (a) women and (b) women from lower family income groups at each of the higher education providers. [117613]

Alan Johnson: The available information on all higher education enrolments by gender for 2001/02 is given in the table. The data for individual institutions is not benchmarked, i.e. it takes no account of prior attainment or subject spread. Nor does it take account of any differences there may be in the rates of application.

Figures with respect to earnings are not held centrally. The closest information available refers to social class by occupation and gender. The corresponding information for 2001/02 covering acceptances to full-time undergraduate study through the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) is given in the following table. UCAS does not cover part-time undergraduates or postgraduates.

Acceptances through UCAS to full-time undergraduate study split by social class and
gender, for entry in autumn 2001

Social classNumber malePercentage maleNumber femalePercentage femaleTotal
I: Professional19,64849.420,10050.639,748
II: Intermediate55,46845.965,36354.1120,831
IIIn: Skilled Non-Manual17,11444.121,66055.938,774
IIIm: Skilled Manual23,16747.925,24552.148,412
IV: Partly Skilled10,26144.412,85355.623,114
V: Unskilled2,76049.32,84450.75,604
Unknown24,71950.524,27049.548,989
Total known128,41846.4148,06553.6276,483
Total153,13747.1172,33552.9325,472

Source:

Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS)


Mrs. Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students are being taught at universities in Liverpool; how many graduates were produced in each of the last five years; and what the drop out rate was as a percentage of total numbers admitted on an annual basis for the last five years. [124213]

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Mr. Stephen Twigg : The latest information on students and graduates is shown in the first table

Information on completion and non-completion rates of HE students is published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) in 'Performance Indicators in Higher Education'. The

1 Sept 2003 : Column 778W

latest data available are shown in the second following table. Figures for students starting courses in 2000–01 will be published in December 2003.

Figures published in 2002 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) show that the UK as a whole has one of the lowest non-completion rates among OECD countries.

All students in Liverpool institutions(57)

1997–981998–991999–20002000–012001–2
Liverpool John Moores UniversityEnrolments20,42520,59020,13020,66521,565
Graduates3,3653,4903,2503,5803,435
The University of LiverpoolEnrolments18,31019,60020,01022,45022,200
Graduates2,7902,7402,7802,9953,220

(57) Environment figures are based on a census count as at 1 December and cover all full-time and part-time home and overseas students on postgraduates courses. Graduates figures cover students completing full-time and part-time first degree courses.


Projected learning outcomes full-time student starting first degree courses
Projected Outcomes(58)

Studentsstarting inObtained degreeOther qualifications(59)Obtained no qualification
Liverpool John Moores University
1996–9773720
1997–9875520
1998–9974719
1999–200071722
University of Liverpool
1996–978758
1997–9884610
1998–9984610
1999–20008947

(58) The projected outcomes are calculated on the assumption that the progression paths of new entrants will be the same as those for students currently in the system.

(59) Includes students who obtain undergraduates qualifications other than a degree (e.g an HND).


Written Ministerial Statements

Mr. Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many written ministerial statements have been made by the Department since 29 October 2002. [126608]

Mr. Stephen Twigg: 28.


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