§ Mr. DafisTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales if he will publish figures showing the numbers of students that have dropped out of courses within(a) each university college and (b) each higher education institution in Wales within each of the last five years; and if he will express the figure also as a percentage of the total number of students in each institution in each year.
§ Sir Wyn Roberts[holding answer 23 February 1993]: The information requested is as follows:
Data for the individual colleges of the University of Wales are not available centrally. The figures for the university of Wales as a whole, shown in table 1, exclude students who were seconded, took a year out or transferred between colleges or to other universities.
Information on students who withdraw from courses in the former LEA maintained higher education sector was recorded for the first time in the continuous student record survey in 1990. As a result only one year's data are currently available. Table 2 gives counts of those students enrolled on full-time and sandwich first degree courses in 1989–90 who had withdrawn by the following academic year—1990–91. Students who transferred to other courses, either internally or externally, or whose course was interrupted for medical reasons have been excluded.
Table 1 Students withdrawing from courses Calendar year Number Percentage 1987 767 13 1988 944 15 1989 789 13 1990 738 12 1991 702 11 Source: Universities' Statistical Record.
Table 2 Students withdrawing from courses Number1 Percentage2 North East Wales Institute 26 11 Welsh Agricultural College 0 0 Trinity College 14 10 Gwent College 41 13 Normal College Bangor 9 7 University of Glamorgan 150 12 Welsh College of Music and Drama 2 7 Cardiff Institute 44 9 Swansea Institute 40 13 1November 1989 to November 1990. 2Percentage calculated on the total number of students enrolled on full-time and sandwich first degree courses during the 1989–90 academic year.