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Written question asked by Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 7 March 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 22 March 2005. It was answered by Kim Howells (Labour) on Tuesday, 22 March 2005 on behalf of the Department for Education and Skills.

Dept for Education and Skills

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills, how much the Government spent in 2004 on (a) schemes and (b) advertising to encourage (i) prospective undergraduates and (ii) prospective graduates to participate in further education.
Answer

Mr. Edward Davey: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Government spent in 2004 on (a) schemes and (b) advertising to encourage (i) prospective undergraduates and (ii) prospective graduates to participate in further education. [221242] Dr. Howells: The Government is keen to ensure that all those with the potential to benefit from higher education (HE) are able and willing to do so. By 2010, we want to increase participation in HE towards 50 per cent. of those aged 18 to 30. Within that we want to see a broader cross-section of people being able and willing to go into HE. To that effect we support the Aimhigher Programme which seeks to raise attainment, aspiration and application levels of people from backgrounds currently under-represented in HE. The total budget for Aimhigher for the 2004/05 academic year is £128 million. This funding enables partnerships of schools, colleges and universities to design and deliver a range of activities in support of the Programme's aims. This budget does not include any amounts for national advertising. In addition to the Aimhigher Programme the Department for Education and Skills is running two advertising campaigns during 2004/05. The Foundation Degrees campaign is aimed at 18 to 30-year-olds and employers in order to raise awareness of Foundation Degrees as a higher education qualification. The cost of this advertising in 2004/05 is £542,000. The Student Finance campaign is aimed at potential higher education students and their parents to inform them of the student support package available to them in HE and how to apply for it. The cost of this advertising in 2004/05 is £1.05million. There are no national schemes or advertising aimed at encouraging or enabling prospective undergraduates to stay in education at post-graduate level. All costs exclude VAT.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
432 c694-5W; 221242
Session
2004-05
Subjects
Further education Expenditure Higher education Publicity Students
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk