Dear colleagues,
Please find below the summary of a new report commissioned by the EC on “Drop-out and Completion in Higher Education in Europe among students from under-represented groups”. The full report and the executive summary are attached and available on the Sharepoint portal.
 
Summary:
 
Poor students particularly at risk of dropping out from university http://ec.europa.eu/education/more-information/doc/neset/higher/report_en.pdf, http://ec.europa.eu/education/more-information/doc/neset/higher/sum_en.pdf  
-          Too many EU students from under-represented groups leave higher education before completing their degrees, according to a Commission report published 17 October 2013. Students coming from poor socio-economic backgrounds are by far the most likely to drop out of higher education.
-          Male students are more at risk of drop-out than female. Students with dependents, women in particular, struggle to balance caring responsibilities with their studies. The same goes for part-time students, who are at greater risk as a result of caring responsibilities or working long hours in a job unrelated to their studies. Also at risk are minority ethnic students, who may face obstacles of racism or poverty, and students with disabilities who often drop out due to physical problems of access and discrimination.
-          Denmark, the UK and Germany are the most successful EU countries in terms of higher education completion, while the countries with the lowest proportion of students completing their degrees are Italy, Hungary and Poland.
-          The report also shows that widening participation in higher education does not itself lead to drop-outs.
-          a holistic approach to retention is necessary and higher education policy that is supported by policies to tackle wider socio-economic and cultural inequalities
-          Policies that are shown to be successful include:
·         Recognition that factors leading to drop-out from higher education need to be tackled early in life;
·         offering financial support to students;
·         targeted outreach programmes;
·         improved monitoring tools to effectively track drop-out and completion rates not only at national level but also at the level of individual institutions and disciplines;
·         accrediting the life skills students have already acquired;
·         providing academic support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
 

Education International 
Internationale de l'Éducation 
Internacional de la Educación 

Sonia Grigt, Programme Officer: E&E
Head Office||1210 Brussels |Belgium 
Tel.:+32 2 224 06 11 | Fax: +32 2 224 06 06 | http://www.ei-ie.org