HC Deb 25 October 1999 vol 336 c745W
Mr. Boswell

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how many students dropped out of their courses of higher education in each of the past five years; what proportion this represents of the student population; and what is the variation in the drop-out rate between institutions. [94946]

Mr. Wicks

The available information is full-time and sandwich first degree non-completion rates for the UK, and is published in the Departmental Annual Report. It is as follows:

UK1full-time and sandwich first degree non-completion rates
Percentage
Non-completion2
1993–94 17-18
1994–95 17-18
1995–96 18-19
1The institutional coverage of the non-completion rates is restricted to the former UFC-funded universities in the UK and former polytechnics in England.
2"Non-completion" covers all those leaving degree courses because of exam failure, ill health, personal and other reasons. It includes those switching to a lower level course but it excludes students transferring between degree courses or subjects.

Ranges are given because the introduction of a new data source in 1994–95 made it difficult to measure non-completion, under existing definitions, accurately. For the same reason, it has not yet been possible to calculate accurate non-completion rates for later years than 1995–96. "Non-completion" covers those who leave full-time and sandwich first degree courses for various reasons, including exam failure, but students who failed their final examinations are not separately identified. The Department is currently working with the higher education funding bodies in the UK to calculate sector-level non-completion rates which will be extended to cover all UK higher education institutions, and which take into account the wider variety of patterns of attendance of students, including changing courses or institutions, repeating years or leaving higher education for a year or more before continuing their studies.

In addition, information on student progression for individual higher education institutions in the UK is due to appear in the Higher Education Funding Council for England's "Higher Education Performance Indicators" later in the year.