4 Variations in the retention of different
groups of students
23. Part-time students are much less likely than
full-time students to complete their courses. Of the part-time
first-degree students who started courses in 2001-02, only 46.9%
had graduated after six years and 44.5% had left higher education
without completing a qualification. By contrast, 76.8% of the
full-time students starting in 2002-03 achieved a qualification
and 15.2% left without a qualification. Around 8% of both full
and part-time students were still studying. Typically, full-time
students intend to complete their degree within three or four
years.[50] Part-time
students may embark on study programmes with different study intentions
from those of full-time students. For part-time students, the
Funding Council and universities try to provide flexibility in
study patterns.[51] The
Funding Council is proposing to further increase funding to universities
for part-time students.[52]
24. The retention of part-time students is not covered
by nationally published performance indicators. There are some
difficulties in interpreting data on part-time students, for example
where their study is intentionally intermittent. The Funding Council
has been looking at ways of including part-time students in the
indicators.[53] A part-time
student indicator might look different from that for full-time
students, because of differences in study intentions. Following
the Report of the Leitch Review of Skills (2006), the Funding
Council wants any indicator to capture the new flexible approaches
to part-time learning in the workplace.[54]
25. Some students register with a university for
a higher education course that is taught in a local further education
college under a franchise agreement. Analysis by the National
Audit Office of the 2004-05 entrants found that students studying
part-time under these arrangements have a higher chance of continuing
than if they had studied in a university.[55]
The Funding Council considers that it should, possibly in partnership
with the Higher Education Academy, explore the reasons for the
difference.[56]
26. Some subject areas are affected by both low demand
and poor retention. A range of science, technological, engineering
and mathematical courses are strategically important but provision
of courses is vulnerable because of low demand. Taken as a whole,
retention in these subjects is worse than in other subjects, for
both full-time and part-time students. For example, the first-year
continuation rates for Mathematical and Computer Sciences and
for Engineering are around three percentage points below average.[57]
Many students in these subjects require additional academic support
in mathematical skills. Universities are responding by introducing
innovative ways of teaching, for example project-based learning,
and mathematics 'drop-in' skill centres are becoming more common.[58]
The Funding Council is working with the Department for Children,
Schools and Families on programmes that are intended to better
prepare school pupils for science and mathematics subjects.[59]
It is also working with mathematical societies to promote mathematics
in schools and the progression to mathematics at university, spending
£3.5 million over three years on this initiative.[60]
27. Some students withdraw from higher education
because they find that it was not right for them or they have
chosen the wrong course, perhaps because of poor advice from their
school or family pressure.[61]
However, there is no information on the extent of this problem.[62]
Often these issues are not within the control of universities,
but in their marketing and promotion of courses to schools and
students it is important that universities set out clearly their
expectations of prospective students.
28. Students from 'non-traditional' backgrounds for
higher education, such as those from socio-economic groups 4-7
(small employers and own account workers, lower supervisory and
technical, routine, and semi-routine occupations) are less likely
to continue into a second year of study than students from managerial,
professional and 'intermediate' occupations. Research has shown
that the non-traditional students can lack the confidence to change
course or university if it is not right for them.[63]
29. It is estimated that around 31% of students in
2005-06 were from socio-economic groups 4-7.[64]
In the same period, people from these backgrounds made up around
46% of the wider working population, although the Department considers
that this percentage is not directly comparable with the percentage
of the student population.[65]
The Department is pushing for more progress on the participation
of people from such backgrounds, but the small increase in their
participation could be linked to their decline as a proportion
of the working population.[66]
30. The number of UK students with disabilities entering
higher education has increased by two-thirds in six years, with
45,000 starting a course in 2005-06. Disabled Students' Allowances
provide financial help, for example equipment and non-medical
helpers for students with disabilities. In 2005-06, £73 million
was distributed in 2005-06 through the Allowances, and analysis
by the National Audit Office indicates that access to the Allowances
is associated with better retention of these students. There are
substantial variations however between universities in the proportions
of students with disabilities that receive the Allowances.[67]
The Department is phasing in from 2009-10 a dedicated central
team to support students applying for an Allowance, and the Funding
Council will commission research into how far the differences
between universities reflect eligible students missing out on
their entitlement.[68]
50 C&AG's Report, Figure 7 Back
51
Q 6 Back
52
Q 52 Back
53
C&AG's Report, paras 2.14-2.15 Back
54
Q 35 Back
55
C&AG's Report, para 1.23 Back
56
Qq 91-92 Back
57
C&AG's Report, para 1.24-1.25; Figures 15, 16, 34 Back
58
C&AG's Report, para 3.16 Back
59
Qq 54, 110 Back
60
Qq 105-106 Back
61
C&AG's Report, para 1.28 Back
62
Qq 121, 124; C&AG's Report, para 1.29 Back
63
C&AG's Report, Figure 35 Back
64
C&AG's Report, Figure 30 Back
65
Ev 21 Back
66
Qq 132-133 Back
67
C&AG's Report, paras 3.23-3.27 Back
68
Ev 28 Back
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