University drop-out rates in UK rise for third successive year

Drop-out rates among university students who give up their studies within 12 months have gone up for the third year in a row, according to official statistics.

Figures released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) show that 26,000 students in England who began studying for their first degree in 2015 did not make it beyond the first year.

Rates vary widely across the higher education sector, with almost one in five undergraduates quitting by the end of their first year at the worst affected institutions, while at the other end of the scale fewer than 1% dropped out from Cambridge University.

The figures, which are the most recent available, reveal that in 2015-16 6.4% of home students starting a full-time first degree course in England quit before starting their second year, continuing an upward year-on-year trend from 5.7% in 2011-12.

Experts expressed disappointment at the figures, published as the sector grapples with the most sweeping industrial action ever seen on UK campuses, and said it was due in part to recent increases in student numbers and the changing profile of undergraduates who did not always get adequate support.

There was, however, small cause for cheer with a slight fall in non-continuation rates among disadvantaged young people, who have traditionally been more likely to drop out of university.

Rates of non-continuation were, however, especially bad at London Metropolitan University, where 19.5% of young full-time undergraduates did not continue their studies into the second year, a loss of 220 students out of 1,130.

Bolton University also had a high drop-out rate at 17%, losing 130 of 755 full-time entrants. At Middlesex University the rate was 16.4%; 14.3% at the University of Bedfordshire, and 13.5% at the University of Suffolk.

Of all home students in the UK starting full-time first degree courses in 2015-16, more than one in 10 (10.5%) are expected to leave higher education without gaining a qualification. Meanwhile the retention rate in Scotland’s universities was better than the UK average for the first time in 19 years.

Prof Les Ebdon, director of Fair Access to Higher Education, welcomed the decrease in non-continuation rates among students from low-participation neighbourhoods, but said at 0.1 percentage points it was a very small decline.

「Meanwhile, among mature students, non-continuation rates continue to rise. That is a problem not just for those individuals whose talent is not being realised, but for employers who need up-skilled and re-skilled staff.

「The new higher education regulator, the Office for Students, has pledged to pay close attention to student retention and success. It must follow through on this promise and really drive lasting improvement for all students.」

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute thinktank, said the year-on-year increase in drop-out rates was 「depressing」, but pointed out that rates still remained lower in England than in many other countries.

Asked why the rate was rising, he said: 「We know the higher fees in England have led to lower value for money perceptions among students, so that could be having an effect.

「But my personal hunch is that it is more to do with the extra students that have been recruited in recent years. There are more students from disadvantaged backgrounds, with non-standard qualifications, and some universities have lowered their entry standards.

「Some of these changes are welcome but students from underrepresented groups do need more support than others and they may not always be getting it in full.」

Topics

Higher education

Students

Young people

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本文來源：https://www.theguardian.com/education/2018/mar/08/university-drop-out-rates-uk-rise-third-year