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Written question asked by Lord Desai (Labour), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Adonis (Labour) on Monday, 10 October 2005.

University Access Courses

Question
What is their estimate of the numbers of students (a) of all ages, and (b) aged 17 who enrolled on internally assessed (i) university access courses in further education colleges, and (ii) university science access courses in each year since 1985 to 2004; what proportion of these (c) passed their courses, and (d) gained university places to do (iii) degrees, and (iv) science degrees; and what proportion of each of these students achieved such degrees.
Answer

The available figures on registrations on the access to HE courses recognised by the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) are as follows:

1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04
31,778 32,734 36,132 37,729 38,684 40,484 40,218 45,877

These QAA figures are based on ones collected from its authorised validating agencies and so do not include access to HE programmes that are not QAA-recognised. QAA does not hold data prior to 1996-97, and the robustness of data pre-2000 cannot be guaranteed as the current data checking procedures were not then in place. QAA does not collect registration data by subject or by type of institution so cannot provide a breakdown of the number of enrolments in science subjects or further education colleges.There should be no registrations of 17 year-olds on QAA-recognised courses as these result in external qualifications and are not eligible for Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funding for students under 19.The numbers of certificates awarded by AVAs on QAA-recognised access to HE courses are as follows (certificates should only be awarded by AVAs to those students who successfully complete a QAA-recognised access to HE course)

1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-2000 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04
13,524 14,850 15,276 17,194 16,404 17,085 18,393 19,605

It would be misleading to present the number of certificates as a proportion of registrations as those registered on part-time courses may not be intending to complete their course within the year they registered in.Figures on the proportion of those registered who gained university places to do degrees are not available from QAA or the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
1035; 674 c87-90WA
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Access Degrees Admissions Further education Higher education Qualifications Universities Science Student numbers
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk