Low participation meets blue-chip research: Phil Baty reports on the East in the latest of our regional focuses
* There are 23 universities and colleges with higher education provision. There are 39 further education institutions, including sixth forms
* There are 32, 492 students in publicly funded HE institutions with headquarters in Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, according to HESA
* In 1995-96 there were 60,180 full-time and 208,520 part-time further education students
* Movement of domiciled students 1995-96 in East Anglia: outflow, 40,895; inflow, 17,119. This represents a net loss of 23,776 students
* Of the universities in the region, Cambridge and the University of Hertfordshire have the highest number of full-time students, at 10,784 and 10,974 respectively. The universities of East Anglia and Essex come bottom with 5,830 and 4,122 respectively
* East Anglia is the most sparsely populated region in Britain, despite population growth of more than 40 per cent between 1961 and 1993
* Fewer people claim unemployment benefit in East Anglia than anywhere else in Britain
Sources: Central Statistical Office, HESA