Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many additional university places have been created at (a) Russell Group and (b) non-Russell Group universities since the lifting of the cap on undergraduate numbers.

In 2013, the government announced that the student number controls at publicly-funded higher education institutions in England would be removed by 2015/16. This was preceded by a relaxation of student number controls for AAB students, who were made exempt from 2012/13, and ABB students, who were exempt from 2013/14.

Student number controls applied to full-time undergraduate students at English higher education institutions who were domiciled in the UK or European Union prior to study.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on students enrolled in higher education institutions in England. Time series for UK and EU domiciled full-time undergraduate entrants at Russell Group and non-Russell Group higher education institutions in England have been provided in the table below.

UK and EU domiciled full-time undergraduate entrants by provider group

English Higher Education Institutions

Academic years 2013/14 to 2016/17

Source: HESA Student Record 2013/14 to 2016/17

Note:

(1) Figures in this table are rounded to the nearest multiple of five.

(2) Entrants refers to first year students.

The number of entrants is affected by the decisions taken by higher education institutions and applicants to these institutions; as such, this is likely to differ from the number of places available.