Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the number of mature students studying in higher education institutions; and if he will make a statement.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects and publishes statistics on students studying at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The latest statistics refer to the academic year 2016/17 and can be found at the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/news/11-01-2018/sfr247-higher-education-student-statistics.

Studying later in life can bring enormous benefits for individuals, the economy and employers. While people most commonly enter higher education before the age of 21, a fifth of those studying in HEIs in England are aged over 30, showing that many people are able to use higher education to retrain or improve their skills later on in their careers.