1998/99 HE Student data published by HESA

Students in Higher Education Institutions 1998/99 is published today by HESA. The volume contains detailed statistical information about the student body of the UK higher education sector..

Figures from this latest HESA publication show 1,845,757 students following HE programmes at 169 UK HE institutions in the academic year 1998/99. 78.1% of these were studying at undergraduate level, with 908,332 full-time first degree students making up 49.2% of the total student population. There were a further 93,651 part-time students making up a first-degree total of 1,001,983. 53.9% (994,051) of all students were women, and 11.9 % (219,285) were from overseas.

There were 446,942 HE qualifications awarded, 263,671 at first degree level. Of these, 54.0% of those who obtained a classified first degree were awarded first or upper second class honours, with women obtaining fewer firsts than their male colleagues but a greater proportion of upper second class degrees.

Other key points

• 63.9% of the 1,845,757 HE students were following full-time or sandwich programmes of study
• Overseas students made up 38.0% of all full-time postgraduates
• Ethnic minorities constituted 13.1% of all first year UK domiciled students whose ethnicity was known
• There were 45,018 students studying at FE level in HE institutions
• 66.2% of new full-time first degree students were following programmes of up to three years duration, with a further 30.3% following programmes expected to last between three to four years
• The proportion of new UK domiciled full-time first degree students aged 18 and under rose to 49.1% (from 47.9% in 1997/98), whilst 59.8% of new UK domiciled part-time first degree entrants were aged 30 or over compared to 57.1% in the previous year
• Sandwich students constituted 8.2% of all undergraduates
• 11,338 doctorates and 18,579 PGCE’s were awarded in 1998/99
• Part-time students obtained a higher proportion of first-class first degree honours (9.9%) than full-time (8.3%)
• 21.0% of Mathematical science students were awarded first class degrees, compared to 4.0% among Law qualifiers.

Notes for editors

1. The Reference Volume Students in Higher Education Institutions 1998/99 provides a statistical reference about students within Higher Education in the UK for 1998/99.
2. The Reference Volume is available from the Customer Services Team, HESA Services Ltd., 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ; telephone: 01242 255577. An electronic version on disk is also available. A list of other publications can be obtained from the Customer Services Team.
3. HESA cannot accept responsibility for any inferences or conclusions derived from the data by third parties.
4. Press Enquiries should be directed to the Data Provision Team, at HESA, 95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ; telephone: 01242 211133.

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