Education: Funds for further learning dry up

Funds for further-education students are steadily declining, it was disclosed yesterday, as the cost of advertising the Government's policy on tuition fees exceeded pounds 330,000.

In a written answer from the office from the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, it was revealed that average funding per full-time student in further education had dropped from pounds 3,080 to pounds 2,860 since the 1993- 4 academic year.

In a separate question, the office was asked how much the Government had spent on advertising on commercial radio, television and newspapers in relation to its policy on tuition fees for university students.

The reply, from Kim Howells, minister for lifelong learning, states: "The cost for advertising, in relation to the policy on tuition fees for university students, is, for commercial radio, pounds 222,209 and for the national press, pounds 137,831."

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