To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Statement by Lord Mandelson on 3 November on higher education, to what extent the increase in university applications is due to applications from foreign students. [HL6269]

In his Statement on 3 November, Lord Mandelson referred to the over 1 million entrants expected to enrol in higher education courses for the 2009-10 academic year. This relates to all levels of study (postgraduate and undergraduate) and all modes of study (full-time and part-time). At present information is not held on the region of domicile of all these expected entrants. The most detailed information available is the number of accepted applicants to full-time undergraduate courses via the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS).

The table below shows the increase in accepted applicants for 2009-10 academic year by region of domicile compared with the same point last year.

Source: UCAS