Higher and Further Education

Debate between Naomi Long and Shabana Mahmood

Tuesday 11th September 2012 Commons Chamber

[Shabana Mahmood]

I am not going to take any more interventions at the moment; I will do so later.

The Government try to explain away the impact of their choices by saying that the drops in applications are due to the decline in the population of 18-year-olds. However, that does not get them off the hook because, as the Independent Commission on Fees pointed out in its recent report, in the rest of the UK, where the fees regime has remained the same, there has not been the same drop in applications.

[Naomi Long (Belfast East) (Alliance)]

It may be relevant to look at the applications of Northern Ireland students to Northern Ireland universities versus GB universities. While applications to Northern Ireland institutions have been consistent with previous years, this year applications to GB institutions have dropped by 14%. Even allowing for demographics, it is clear that students are choosing to stay at home and not to apply to university, perhaps in England specifically, because of the rise in fees.

[Shabana Mahmood]

The hon. Lady makes a very powerful point, and she is entirely right in her conclusions.

The Independent Commission on Fees found that in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland the number of applicants aged 20 or over increased between 2010 and 2012 while, by contrast, in England they fell by 12%. The number of younger applicants—those aged up to 19—fell by 7%, but by only 1% to 2% in the other home countries. Although population size could be a factor, the report found that the relative decline in English applications was much higher. That raises concerns about the impact of fees, because there are falls in the number of applicants both in absolute terms and relative to the rest of the UK.