David Laws
Liberal Democrat, Yeovil
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills what proportion of students in each age group were studying a higher education qualification in a further education college funded (a) directly by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, (b) via a university and (c) via the Skills Funding Agency in each of the last three years for which figures are available.
David Willetts
Minister of State (Universities and Science)
The answer to the question is shown in the following tables. These are the official figures provided by each funding body and are not comparable due to differing methodologies.
Figures from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) are shown on a full person equivalent basis and the age group refers to the age reported at the start of the course while figures from the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) are shown on a learner basis and the age group refers to the age reported at the start of the academic year. As the figures are not comparable, figures on the proportion of students funded by each category are not shown.
Table 1 shows the numbers of students studying for a higher education qualification in a further education college that are (i) HEFCE funded, (ii) indirectly funded by HEFCE (via a university), (iii) by another funding stream (for prescribed higher education courses) and (iv) by another funding stream (for franchised higher education courses). Detail on prescribed courses of higher education (HE) can be found on the HEFCE website:
http://www.hefce.ac.uk/pubs/circlets/2008/cl22_08/
| Table 1: Learner participation (full person equivalent) in further education colleges for higher education courses funded by HEFCE and other funding streams, 2007/08 to 2009/10 | |||
| (i) HEFCE funded | |||
| Age at start of course | 2007-08 | 2008-09 | 2009-10 |
| Under 21 | 17,800 | 18,700 | 20,800 |
| 21 to 24 | 9,200 | 9,600 | 10,600 |
| 25+ | 21,300 | 22,400 | 23,000 |
| Total | 48,300 | 50,700 | 54,400 |
| (ii) HEFCE indirectly funded | |||
| Age at start of course | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 |
| Under 21 | 17,600 | 18,000 | 20,700 |
| 21 to 24 | 7,800 | 8,200 | 8,900 |
| 25+ | 28,200 | 28,600 | 29,000 |
| Total | 53,600 | 54,800 | 58,600 |
| (iii) Other funding stream (prescribed HE) | |||
| Age at start of course | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 |
| Under 21 | 1,800 | 1,700 | 1,900 |
| 21 to 24 | 1,500 | 1,700 | 1,800 |
| 25+ | 4,000 | 4,200 | 4,700 |
| Total | 7,300 | 7,600 | 8,400 |
| (iv) Other funding stream (franchised HE) | |||
| Age at start of course | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 |
| Under 21 | 1,500 | 1,600 | 1,100 |
| 21 to 24 | 1,000 | 1,300 | 1,100 |
| 25+ | 2,800 | 4,500 | 3,700 |
| Total | 5,300 | 7,400 | 5,900 |
| Notes: 1. Students are counted if they are included in the standard registration population. 2. A student, studying at the same level, mode, subject and institution will be counted only once. 3. De-duplicating between the ILR and HESA record has been carried out. 4. Age groups refer to the age reported at the start of the course. 5. Some records have been removed from the ILR as they were returned incorrectly. Source: Individualised Learner Record (ILR) Data for HEFCE funded and HESA data record for HEFCE indirectly funded. | |||
Information on the number of students studying higher education courses in further education and funded via the Skills Funding Agency is shown in Table 2.
| Table 2: Learner participation in further education on level 4 and above courses funded by the Skills Funding Agency or Young People's Learning Agency | |||
| Age at start of academic year | 2007/08 | 2008/09 | 2009/10 |
| Under 21 | 4,000 | 4,300 | 4,200 |
| 21 to 24 | 6,400 | 6,300 | 5,600 |
| 25+ | 43,900 | 48,700 | 40,800 |
| Unknown | (1)— | (1)— | (1)— |
| Total | 54,400 | 59,400 | 50,700 |
| (1) Indicates a base value of less than 50. Notes: 1. Figures include learners in further education on level 4 or above courses that were funded by the Learning and Skills Council and/or are now funded by the Skills Funding Agency or Young People's Learning Agency. 2. Age groups refer to the age reported as at 31 August of the academic year, i.e. academic age. 3. Figures have been rounded up or down to the nearest hundred, so components may not sum to totals. 4. Figures do not include any learners returned in ILR collections for higher education institutions. Source: Individualised Learner Record (ILR) Data. | |||
Information on the number of learners participating in further education is published in a quarterly Statistical First Release (SFR). The latest SFR was published on
http://www.thedataservice.org.uk/statistics/statisticalfirstrelease/sfr_current
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