This briefing paper discusses Covid-19 announcements affecting the FE and HE sectors in England from January 2021. It outlines areas such as the return of students to campuses and refunds for students affected by the disruptions.
For the last two decades both Oxford and Cambridge have taken more than half of their entrants from state schools. The latest rates are 61% for Oxford and 65% for Cambridge, or somewhat higher if overseas students at UK schools are excluded. These rates have generally increased over the past few decades, but the historical data shows that progress has been slow. At the end of the 1930s 24% of entrants to Oxford and 19% to Cambridge started their education at a state school. By the early 1950s these rates had increased to 43% and 34% respectively. In the early 1960s 34% of students at Oxford and 27% at Cambridge came from state secondary schools.
This House of Commons briefing paper outlines the current funding system for: healthcare students, medical and dentistry students and paramedics and discusses the impact of the 2017 reforms on entrants to healthcare degrees. It also outlines new funding arrangements for nursing, midwifery, healthcare students and paramedics from September 2020.
This House of Commons briefing note gives and overview of the current position of part-time undergraduate education in England. It gives an overview of the numbers of part-time students, the decline in part-time students and discusses the reasons for the decline and the impact on the higher education sector.
This briefing includes latest figures on the proportion of women in Parliament and elected bodies across the UK and throughout the world, as well as information on women in UK public life.
This Commons Library briefing paper summarises current progress on nuclear power, including conventional reactors, advanced designs, waste disposal, and nuclear research.
Headline student numbers have increased to new records following a short dip after to the 2012 reforms. There are however ongoing concerns about numbers outside this group where trends have not been so positive, including part-time undergraduates, some postgraduates students, overseas students from some countries( especially Malaysia, Ireland, Cyprus and Germany) mature students and some disadvantaged groups. There is also considerable concern about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and student numbers, particularly those from overseas and uncertainty about the impact of Brexit on EU student numbers.
This House of Commons briefing paper provides information and statistics on mature students and discusses the decline in mature student numbers and highlights policy issues affecting these students.
The number of students in higher education with a known disability is increasing, but disabled students remain an underrepresented group and concerns have been expressed about the support provided for these students.
This Library briefing paper provides a summary of the UK energy market, a breakdown of the components of energy bills, and details of concerns and reforms in the market, including the tariff cap.
This House of Commons briefing paper answers some frequently asked questions about international and EU students in the UK. It sets out statistics in this area and outlines policy issues including the potential impact of Brexit and the net migration target on international and EU student recruitment.
This briefing paper gives an overview of the proposals in the further education white paper, Skills for Jobs: Lifelong Learning for Opportunity and Growth, 21 January 2021 and outlines some of the issues that it aims to address.
Higher education underwent fundamental changes to how it was financed in England 2012. There have been ongoing smaller changes since then and prospects for much larger changes following the Review of Post-18 Education and Funding. How has this affected the balance between the broad sources of funding -the taxpayer and graduate and how has the total funding from all sources for universities changed?
Compliance with coronavirus restrictions has meant many students haven't been able to live in their term-time accommodation for significant periods and many have had a poorer experience at university than expected due to Covid outbreaks and restrictions. This has led to students demanding rent refunds or discounts. How have universities, other accommodation providers and the Government responded to this?
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic there have been concerns about the financial impact on universities. Much of this has focussed on the potential loss of international students, but there could also be losses in income from lower home student numbers, a drop in research work and less revenue from accommodation, catering and conferencing. What are the size of these impacts and what has the Government done to support the sector?