HC Deb 08 March 1966 vol 725 cc490-1W
Miss Quennell

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the drop-out rate in each year over the five-year period 1960 to 1965 in colleges of education or teacher training colleges, in colleges of further education, and in universities, respectively, at the end of the first year of a student's training, and at the end of the second year; and what has been the failure rate, expressed numerically and as a percentage of students at the point of their final examinations, that is, at the end of the third and fourth year of their studies.

Mr. Prentice

The most recent information for students in universities and in further education establishments is contained in Appendix 2A of the Robbins Report on Higher Education. For the figures on university students I refer the hon. Lady to the reply I gave on 15th February to the hon. Member for Devizes (Mr. Charles Morrison).

The information on further education given in the Robbins Report (Appendix 2A, page 162) is confined to full-time and sandwich students following first degree and diploma in technology courses in Colleges of Advanced Technology and in Regional Colleges, in course in the academic year 1960–61.

An indication of the withdrawals and failures on initial courses of teacher training can be obtained by comparing number of admissions in a given year with the number of successful completions in the relevant later years.

5:3, but a substantial proportion of these examination failures were subsequently retrieved as a result of the student passing at a later attempt.