Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Mark Durkan (Social Democratic & Labour Party). It was answered on Tuesday, 7 February 2006 on behalf of the Northern Ireland Grand Committee.

University Places

Question: In looking again at the numbers that the Minister has given, will she examine their distribution across the campuses of the university of Ulster? She will see that the cap bears most heavily on the Magee campus in Derry. Will the Government respond to the university's strong proposals further to expand that campus, particularly with the land that will become available through the transfer of Foyle and Londonderry college? Will they also support the case for an increase in medical education in Northern Ireland, not just by expanding the existing facilities at Queen's university but by having a second medical school as proposed by the university of Ulster at Magee?

Answer: I have met the acting pro-vice-chancellor of the university of Ulster, and this was one of the issues that we discussed. The case for additional medical students was not made to the Department of Health at that time, but it will be kept under review. The number of students is an issue that the university of Ulster can feed in to the review. I know that it has made a request for additional places, but we must examine that request in the context of the skills required in Northern Ireland for the economy of the future. That is why the consultation paper has been issued—to get the views of all sectors on not just education but on the employment and skills needs of the future and how we can best address the skills gap.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: NIGC c8-9
Session: 2005-06
Oral question type: Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Commons Grand Committees
Subjects: Finance Northern Ireland Universities Student numbers Ulster University Queen's University Belfast