Availability of high-quality higher education
Data on the dropout rates of full-time students during their first year of higher education. This is used as a way to measure the availability of high-quality higher education.
Summary main findings
Higher education dropout rates fell sharply in the academic year 2019 to 2020.
5.3% of full-time undergraduate students who started their course in the UK in the 2019 to 2020 academic year did not start their second year.
This was a decrease from 6.7% in the previous year, and the lowest dropout rate since 2014.
By year
Visualisation for by year
Percentage of full-time undergraduate students who dropped out of university during their first year of higher education (UK, 6 academic years to August 2020)
Click or tap on legend items to toggle visibility
Data for by year
| Academic year | England (%) | Scotland (%) | Wales (%) | Northern Ireland (%) | UK (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 5.4 | 4.5 | 5.5 | 3.9 | 5.3 |
| 2018/19 | 6.7 | 7.0 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 6.7 |
| 2017/18 | 6.9 | 6.1 | 6.1 | 6.3 | 6.8 |
| 2016/17 | 6.7 | 6.0 | 5.7 | 6.0 | 6.5 |
| 2015/16 | 6.7 | 6.4 | 6.2 | 4.7 | 6.6 |
| 2014/15 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 6.2 | 5.3 | 6.5 |
Download for by year
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Higher Education Statistics Agency, non-continuation summary: UK performance indicators
Time period
September 2014 to August 2020
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data measures the non-continuation (dropout) rates of full-time students during their first year at a higher education provider.
Students are counted as dropping out if they left their course in the first year, having attended for 50 days or more.
Things you need to know
Lower dropout rates may not reflect the availability of good quality higher education.
Other relevant factors might include changes to wages and job opportunities at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Type of data
Administrative data.
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 4KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area type
- Area name
- Time period
- Age
- Sex
- Value
- Unit