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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