Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated), in the House of Lords. It was answered by Lord Henley (Conservative) on Wednesday, 22 December 2010.

Higher Education: Tuition Fees

Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment have they made of the impact of the lack of transitional arrangements in the university tuition fee increases on university applicants of 2011.
Answer

Statistics on deferred entry to higher education are available via the University and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). Provisional end-of-year figures for 2010 show that 479,057 applicants from all domiciles accepted a place at a UK institution; 32,983 of these have deferred entry to 2011. These provisional figures show the position on 13 October 2010; final end-of-year data will be available from 20 January 2011. It is still very early in the UCAS application cycle for entry in 2011 or beyond, so limited information is held on the extent of deferred entry. Applicants can make up to five choices on their application form and this can include courses which start in 2011 or 2012. As of 22 November 2010, 815,327 choices had been made in the current application cycle, 23,610 were for courses beginning one year or more after September 2011. At the equivalent point in the previous cycle, 717,880 choices had been made, 32,621 of which were for courses beginning one year or more after September 2010. In the 2011 application cycle the main deadline for universities and colleges to guarantee consideration of applications for those domiciled in the UK and EU is 15 January 2011. The new support arrangements we are introducing from the 2012-13 academic year will apply to all students starting university in that year, including those who have deferred entry. When the new arrangements were announced, UCAS worked with the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) on an e-mail that UCAS sent to those 2011 cycle deferred-entry applicants that had applied prior to 4 November 2010. The email informed applicants of the implications of the new finance arrangements and advised them to check the BIS website for further information and contact individual institutions to discuss individual circumstances.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
5181; 723 c338WA
Session
2010-12
Subjects
Admissions Fees and charges Higher education Universities Students
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk