Undergraduate non-completion rates: Differences between UK universities

✍ Scribed by Jill Johnes; Jim Taylor

• Book ID: 104637921
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 920 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0018-1560
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00139181

✦ Synopsis

The non-completion rate of university students differs substantially between UK universities. This paper provides estimates of non-completion rates for the 1979 and 1980 entry cohorts into each university and suggests a number of reasons which may have contributed to these inter-university differences. Statistical analysis indicates that a large proportion of the inter-university variation in the non-completion rate can be explained by three main factors: the scholastic ability of each university's new entrants (as reflected by A-level score), the subject mix of each university, and the proportion of each university's students accommodated in a hall of residence. The main conclusion is that inter-university comparisons in the non-completion rate are of little value unless account is taken of differences in the scholastic ability of each university's intake of students.