§ Mr. ClappisonTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the drop-out rate for students studying medicine on courses which lead to registration as a doctor was in the latest year for which figures are available. [176245]
§ Alan Johnson[holding answer 27 May 2004]: Figures are not held centrally. The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HECFE) publish non-completion rates of students on full-time undergraduate courses in "Performance Indicators in Higher Education", but these are not calculated for individual subjects, courses or entry qualifications.
It is generally agreed that non-completion rates are low in medicine and dentistry. For example, for full-time first degree students starting their course in 2000–01, St George's Hospital Medical School, the only remaining free-standing medical school in England, has a non-completion rate of 6 per cent. The overall non-completion rate for full-time first degree students at UK HE institutions, who began their studies in 2000–01, was estimated by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to be 16 per cent.