HC Deb 25 July 1983 vol 46 cc281-2W
Mr. Michael Forsyth

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, for universities in Great Britain, how many first-year students discontinued their studies at the end of the first year due to examination failure; and what percentage of that year's students they represented in each of the last five years.

Mr. Brooke

The information is no available in the form requested, but an analysis conducted on the basis of 1979 figures suggested that about 4 per cent. of university students left their courses in that year without qualifying because of examination failure. About half of those who left were in their first year of study.