To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students started an undergraduate degree course which they then failed to complete in each year since 1997. (131643)

The latest available figures are shown in the table.

The figure for 2004-05 will become available by the end of July 2007.

According to figures published by the OECD, the overall completion rate in UK universities and colleges of higher education is amongst the highest in the OECD countries.

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what the drop-out rate from degree level courses was in 2006. (133215)

Drop-out rates from degree level courses are given in table T5 of the performance Indicators in Higher Education, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). In 2003/04, the proportion of UK-domiciled entrants to full-time first degree courses at higher education institutions in England, who were projected to neither obtain an award nor transfer to another course, was 14.4 per cent., compared to a figure of 15.0 per cent. in 2000/01.

The 2003/04 figure is the latest available: the 2004/05 figure will become available in July 2007.

According to figures published by the OECD, the overall completion rate in UK universities and colleges of higher education is among the highest in the OECD countries.