House of Commons - Public Accounts

Select Committee on Public Accounts Tenth Report

3 Universities' performance on improving retention

15. In its previous report in 2002, the Committee concluded that there was wide variation between universities in the proportion of students continuing to a second year of study, and that the Funding Council should continue to bear down on this variation.[29] But in 2004-05 there was no statistically significant difference to the variation in 2001-02. Continuation rates of full-time first-degree students in 2004-05 ranged widely. Five universities achieved a continuation rate of 97% or more for full-time, first-degree students, but 12 universities had rates of less than 87%.[30] The research-intensive universities that are members of The Russell Group tend to have higher rates of retention than other types of university.[31] The Funding Council considers that there are valid explanations for the variations, in particular because different universities have different types of students with different prior educational involvement. Progress is uneven across the sector, however, as around one in four universities' continuation rates fell by at least one percentage point between 2001-02 and 2004-05.[32]

16. To enable more meaningful comparisons between universities, the Higher Education Statistics Agency calculates a retention 'benchmark' for each university. A university's benchmark is the average continuation rate for the whole sector, adjusted for the university's own profile of subjects offered and entry qualifications of students recruited. The Funding Council considers that the benchmarks provide some universities with an appropriate target for them to improve their retention. Universities can also use these indicators together with other data, for example the student satisfaction information collected in the National Student Survey, to address areas where some of their students are dissatisfied.[33]

17. Universities that are improving retention tend to collate and use management information on withdrawal rates, producing regular reports for decision makers and tracking the performance of students to highlight those that may need more support.[34] The quality of forecasts or records of non-completion in some universities could, however, be improved. Information collated can sometimes be localised to particular programmes or departments, and there is insufficient evaluation of the cost and effectiveness of retention initiatives in universities.[35]

18. The Funding Council is working to ensure that the quality of management information in universities is enhanced through monitoring and auditing, and its leadership, governance and management committee. But the Funding Council still faces a challenge to get universities to improve their management information in order to inform the decisions which would improve retention. It considers that the time is now right for robust evaluation of recent initiatives.[36]

19. Students withdraw from their courses for a wide range of reasons, including personal circumstances, dissatisfaction with their course or university and financial reasons. There is, however, no reliable national data on reasons for leaving, because universities do not always collect the information when students leave courses without discussing their reasons with tutors.[37] Additionally, the information collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency includes just one reason for leaving though research has suggested that many students leave for a combination of reasons.[38] Some universities, such as Nottingham Trent University and Edge Hill University, have done in-depth research to better understand why their students leave courses.[39] The Funding Council considers that all universities should establish reasons for leaving, for example through exit interviews, and should have systems to identify and investigate trends in withdrawal, and act on their analysis.[40] Universities would also find it useful to have information on what keeps students on courses, as well as what causes them to leave.[41]

20. Some students withdraw for mental health reasons, which could stem from being in a stressful environment, with pressure from personal relationships and academic issues. There is a lack of data on the scale of this problem, both nationally and at individual universities. The Funding Council believes that individual universities should have this information, and that management at universities would generally be aware of the issue through reports from their student counselling services.[42]

21. Both academic and pastoral support are important to the student experience. Universities provide pastoral support and counselling services for students in different ways.[43] Personal contact with the tutor is highly valued by students and the relationship between students and tutors is a fundamental part of the higher education system.[44] In the National Student Survey, levels of satisfaction with assessment and feedback, and with academic support were lower than for other areas of the student experience (Figure 2).[45] The introduction of variable fees may have increased students' expectations of what higher education should provide, especially in terms of contact between students and tutors.[46]

Figure 2: Results of the National Student survey, 2006

Assessment and feedback

Organisation and management

Academic support

Teaching and learning

Personal development

Learning resources

Note: Students are given 21 positive statements, and asked to respond to each one in the range 1 ("definitely disagree") to 5 ("definitely agree"). The statements and responses are grouped into six categories.

Source: National Audit Office / Higher Education Funding Council for England

22. Increasing student numbers could result in bigger, more impersonal university environments. Tutoring and pastoral support systems therefore require appropriate resourcing by universities, especially in terms of staff time.[47] The systems through which universities reward academic staff may not however always reflect the importance of personal tutoring.[48] Students may start a course and find that it is more difficult than they thought or that it is not quite what they had expected, so they need extra support. Personal tutors can advise and direct students in need of counselling or additional academic support to the appropriate services.[49]

29 Committee of Public Accounts, Fifty-eighth Report of Session 2001-02, Improving Student Achievement and Widening Participation in Higher Education in England, HC 588 Back

30 Ev 33-35 Back

31 C&AG's Report, Figure 13 Back

32 Q 2; C&AG's Report, para 1.14; Figure 14 Back

33 Q 83; C&AG's Report, para 2.18 Back

34 C&AG's Report, paras 3.2-3.3 Back

35 Qq 88-90; C&AG's Report, para 3.5 Back

36 Qq 85-90; C&AG's Report, Figure 18 Back

37 C&AG's Report, Improving student achievement in English higher education, HC (2001-02) 486, para 2.8 Back

38 Q 124; C&AG's Report, paras 1.26-1.27, 1.29 Back

39 C&AG's Report, para 3.4 Back

40 Qq 71-72 Back