Student Wastage: Gender

Mr. Boris Johnson

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills (1) what estimate he has made of the non-completion rate of (a) male and (b) female students, broken down by number of UCAS tariff points on entry; (149782)

(2) what the non-completion rate was of (a) female and (b) male students who entered higher education between the ages of (i) 18 and 20, (ii) 21 and 25, (iii) 25 and 30 and (iv) 30 years and above in each of the last five years, broken down by ethnicity;

(3) what the non-completion rate was of (a) female and (b) male students in each of the last five years, broken down by ethnicity;

(4) what the non-completion rates were of (a) UK domiciled, (b) non-UK but EU domiciled and (c) non-EU domiciled (i) males and (ii) females in each of the last 10 years.

Table 1 contains the latest available projected non-completion indicators for entrants to full-time first degree courses.

*Table 1: Proportion of UK-domiciled entrants to full-time first degree courses at UK higher education institutions who are projected to neither obtain an award nor transfer to another institution*
Academic year	Percentage
1999/2000	15.9
2000/01	15.0
2001/02	14.1
2002/03	14.4
2003/04	14.9
2004/05	14.2
Source: “Performance Indicators in Higher Education”, published by HESA

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) publishes these projected non-completion indicators in its Performance Indicators in Higher Education publication each year. These indicators are not available broken down by gender or entry qualification.

HESA also publishes non-continuation indicators, which show the proportion of entrants to full-time first degree courses not continuing in higher education after their first year. Table 2 contains the latest available non-continuation rates.

*Table 2: Proportion of UK-domiciled entrants to full-time first degree courses at UK higher education institutions not continuing in higher education after their first year*
Academic year	Young (under 21)	Mature (21 and over)	All entrants
1999/2000	7.8	15.9	9.7
2000/01	7.1	14.5	8.7
2001/02	7.3	14.9	9.0
2002/03	7.8	15.4	9.5
2003/04	7.7	15.6	9.5
2004/05	7.2	14.4	8.8
Source: “Performance Indicators in Higher Education”, published by HESA

A more detailed age breakdown is not available.

Table 3 contains the available information for non-continuation indicators broken down by entry qualification.

*Table 3: Proportion of UK-domiciled young entrants to full-time first degree courses at UK higher education institutions not continuing in higher education after their first year 2002/03 and 2003/04*
Entry qualification categories/tariff points	2002/03	2003/04
A-levels or highers:
Unknown	11.3	12.6
Up to 200	11.7	11.9
201 to 290	7.9	8.1
291 to 380	4.9	5.3
Above 380	2.6	2.8

Other qualifications	11.4	11.6

All qualifications	7.8	7.7
Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

Table 4 contains the available information for non-continuation indicators broken down by gender.

*Table 4: Proportion of UK-domiciled young entrants to full-time first degree courses at UK higher education institutions not continuing in higher education after their first year—2003/04*
Gender	Proportion
Female	6.7
Male	8.8
Total	7.7
Source: Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

Figures for non-continuation indicators broken down by ethnicity are not available.

Figures for non-completion and non-continuation indicators are available for UK-domiciled students only.

Volume 463: debated on Tuesday 24 July 2007