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Performance Indicators Show Students Are Staying The Course

November 05, 2004

Kingston University has excellent student retention rates and is helping hundreds of people from non-traditional academic backgrounds to get a degree, according to latest Government figures. The 2004 University Performance Indicator tables show that the University has achieved better than its benchmark targets against nearly every measure. The tables, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), assess the performance of higher education institutions across the United Kingdom on a number of measures including widening participation, student retention, learning and teaching outcomes and research. To allow for regional and size variations, benchmark targets are set to ensure that comparisons are made between similar institutions.

Kingston performed particularly well in two areas that are at the top of the Government's higher education agenda - non-continuation (i.e. students who drop out of university courses after their first year) and participation by students from under-represented groups. Only 9.4 per cent of Kingston first-degree students do not continue on to the second year of their course, against a benchmark of 11.1 per cent. The tables also show that 93.7 per cent of Kingston's young, first degree students come from state schools compared with a benchmark of 90.1 per cent; 38.4 per cent are from the lower socioeconomic groups (benchmark 34.5) and 12.8 per cent from low participation neighbourhoods (benchmark 10.8).
Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Caroline Gipps said the indicators showed the University's focus on widening participation was proving effective. The action taken on Kingston's first year experience project, which identified ways to combat student dropout, was also having a positive impact, Professor Gipps explained. "These figures are a tribute to the excellent academic and pastoral support provided by our staff to new students and to our concerted efforts to help more people benefit from university education. The indicators prove that increasing access to higher education does not have to result in high drop-out rates," she said.

The performance indicators follow hot on the heels of the Sunday Times University Guide which praised Kingston for its teaching quality and its record for helping students to achieve high-level, well-paid jobs.

Kingston University

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