To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will express the number of women (a) applying for and (b) starting computer courses at universities and polytechnics over the past five years as a percentage of all domestic applicants and starters; if he will take steps to promote (i) more such courses and (ii) a higher proportion of women students in such courses; and if he will make a statement.
Figures for applicants are available only for the universities. They are:
Women as Proportion of All Applicants for Courses in Computing1
| |
Percentages
| |
| 1982 | 22·9 |
| 1983 | 20·3 |
| 1984 | 18·2 |
| 1985 | 16·0 |
| 1986 | 15·4 |
| 1987 | 15·1 |
1 There was a change in the basis of subject coding for universities in 1985. | |
Figures for the numbers of students starting computing courses and the proportion who were women are:
Universities in the United Kingdom1
| Polytechnics in England
| |||
UCCA acceptances
| Percentage of females
| New enrolments2
| Percentage of females
| |
| 1982 | 1,901 | 21·7 | 2,170 | 22·9 |
| 1983 | 1,935 | 19·7 | 2,955 | 19·9 |
| 1984 | 2,070 | 16·5 | 3,205 | 17·4 |
| 1985 | 2,214 | 16·4 | 3,841 | 17·9 |
| 1986 | 2,276 | 16·1 | 4,595 | 17·1 |
1 There was a change in the basis of subject coding for universities in 1985. | ||||
2 Full-time equivalent. | ||||
The information shows that there has been a substantial increase in overall enrolments on computing courses in recent years, reflecting demand from students and the priority which institutions and the funding bodies have given them.
The numbers of women taking these courses are increasing, though more slowly than the numbers of men. Policy on student admissions is for the institutions themselves, within the law as it relates to sex discrimination. The Government's policy for the national curriculum is in part intended to counter premature specialisation in schools and to increase the number of girls who have the grounding in mathematics and kindred subjects which will enable them to study for the qualifications which admit to courses of higher education such as computing.