asked the Minister for Education (a) the total number of university students at the latest date for which figures are available; (b) the total number of students attending other third level institutions at the latest date for which figures are available; (c) the average amount of money spent by the State on each university student during the last complete financial year; (d) the average amount of money spent by the State on each third level student during the same period; (e) the overall spending of his Department on total third level education during this period; and (f) the percentage cost this represents of the overall education budget.
Written Answers. - Third Level Education Statistics.
167.
The total number of full-time university students for the academic year 1979-80 (the latest year available) was 22,937 and the number attending other third level institutions was 15,422. The estimated average expenditure spent by the State on each full-time equivalent university student for the financial year 1979, (the latest year available), was £1,756, while the estimated average expenditure on each full-time equivalent third level student (including university students) is estimated at £1,725.
The estimated overall expenditure on third level education for 1979 was £77,734,337 which represents 17.4 per cent of the total budget.
168.
asked the Minister for Education (a) the annual amount being spent on grants to university students at the latest date for which figures are available; (b) the amount being spent on grants to other third level students during the last complete financial year; (c) the number of university grants awarded by his Department over the same period and (d) the percentage cost of the total expenditure on grants to students this represents of the overall third level education budget.
Higher education grants awarded by local authorities under the Higher Education Grants Acts, 1968 and 1978, are tenable in respect of university degree courses and approved courses in other institutions of higher education such as regional technical colleges, national institutes of higher education at Limerick and Dublin etc. Information as to the breakdown of the grants as between the university and non-university sector is not readily available in my Department.
For the academic year 1979-80, the latest year available, the value of grants allocated under the higher education grants' scheme was £3,736,232. In addition, university scholarships for students from the Gaeltacht, for students pursuing courses through Irish, Easter Week commemoration scholarships and scholarships awarded by the Department amounted to £90,474.
Scholarships tenable in the technological sector awarded by vocational education committees and European Social Fund training grants funded through the committees amounted to £2,194,686.
The number of new awards under the higher education grants' scheme and miscellaneous schemes of the Department was 1,321 in the academic year 1979-80, while the total number of awards held in that year was 5,348. New awards by vocational education committees for the same year were 762 and the total number of awards held in that year was 1,686. New awards under the European Social Fund Scheme for 1979-80 were 1,444 and the total number held in that year was 2,446. The percentage cost of the expenditure on grants and scholarships of the estimated overall expenditure for third level education was 7.7 per cent.