This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Age Participation Index for Scotland
02/09/2004
The
Age
Participation Index for Scotland 2002-03 is released today. This updates the previous
publication of the API in table 1 of the Scottish Executive
publication Standard Tables on Higher and Further Education
in Scotland: 2001-02 published in July 2003. The Age
Participation Index is used to measure the proportion of
young Scots entering Higher Education anywhere in the UK
for the first time in a given year.
The main points are as follows:
· In 2002-03, the Age Participation Index for
Scotland was 48.9 per cent. This represented a drop of 2.6
percentage points from the 2001-02 level.
· The fall in the API between 2001-02 and 2002-03
was driven by a drop of 2.5 percentage points in the
component of the API relating to entrants to sub-degree
courses. The component of the API relating to entrants to
first degree courses fell by 0.2 percentage points.
· The sub-degree component of the API is at its
lowest level since 1996-97 and constituted 39 per cent of
the overall API in 2002/03 compared to 44 per cent in
1998-99.
· The largest contribution to the Scottish API is
made by students entering Scottish Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs). The Scottish HEI API stood at 31.0 per
cent in 2002-03. This compared to an API of 15.7 per cent
for HE entrants to Scottish Further Education Colleges and
an API of 2.2 per cent for entrants to HEIs in the rest of
the UK.
· The API for females was 55.2 per cent in 2002-03
while the figure for males was 42.8 per cent. The API for
females has been higher than that for males in each year
since 1989-90 with the gap between genders growing from 0.9
percentage points in 1989-90 to 12.4 percentage points in
2002-03.
The Scottish Age Participation Index (API) for a given
year is defined as the number of young Scots aged under 21
who enter HE for the first time in that year taken as a
percentage of the population of 17 year olds at 31 December
in the same year. In simple terms it is an estimate of the
share of 17 year olds in the population who will enter HE
for the first time before their 21st birthday.
The data used to calculate the Age
Participation Index (API) for Scotland are collected by the
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) from Higher
Education Institutions (HEIs) and by the Scottish Further
Education Funding Council (SFEFC) from Further Education
Colleges (FECs).
In previous years the API has been
included in more wide ranging statistical publications.
Following a review of lifelong learning statistics
publications it has been decided that the API is a
sufficiently prominent series to merit separate
publication.
The components of the API are being
published for the first time this year. The contributions
to the API of students studying HE courses at different
types of institution and at different levels of HE are
separately identified for the first time.
There is a break in data for both HEIs
and FECs in 1994-95, due to a significant revision to the
surveys underpinning both sets of estimates. Comparison of
data spanning 1994-95 should be considered indicative.
This is a National Statistics
publication. National Statistics are produced to high
professional standards as set out in the National
Statistics Code of Practice. They undergo regular quality
assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs.
They are produced free from any political interference.