Industry News
University drop-out rate falls
Posted on 19th July 2007
The average drop-out rate for the first year of study in UK universities fell from 7.7 per cent to 7.2 per cent this year, according to new statistics from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
Although the overall drop was impressive, there was a large degree of variation between different institutions. At St George's Hospital Medical School, the drop-out rate was just one per cent, while Oxford reported 1.4 per cent and Cambridge, which didn't disclose a figure, also witnessed an "incredibly low" rate.
At the other end of the scale, Bell College and the University of Paisley, both in Scotland, reported the worst rates: 25.7 per cent and 21.2 per cent respectively.
The annual performance indicators also revealed this year that 46.3 per cent of Oxford University entrants and 42.1 per cent of those from Cambridge were from fee-paying schools.
Among specialist institutions, the Royal Academy of Music (52.3 per cent), Courtauld Institute of Art (57.1 per cent) and the Royal Agricultural College (57.2 per cent) also witnessed high levels of private school entrants.
The latest figures from Ucas suggest that the number of applications to British universities is rising. By the end of June, 494,842 people had applied to start a full-time university degree course in 2007, a 5.3 per cent rise on last year.