Kingston University student drop-out rates are at their lowest since 2011/12, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by The River.
The data from the number of students who dropped out in the last academic year was 396, compared to 851 in 2017/18 and 1,091 in 2011/12.
Last year’s number was below the average, which was calculated to be 698 students per year. The majority of dropouts since 2011/12 was said to have been due to “personal reasons”.
Despite the decrease overall, the number of students dropping out because of “financial reasons” has more than doubled since 2016/17, with just 16 students then to 45 in 2018/19.
Data published in January by the Press Association stated that two-thirds of UK universities have seen a rise in students dropping out.
The data found that from 2011/12 to 2016/17, 67 per cent of universities saw an increase in dropouts.
Jaycee Moore dropped out of Kingston University in 2018 to re-apply elsewhere.
“I realised the course I was doing at the time wasn’t something I wanted to do anymore,” Moore said. “The university I ended up going to have a better syllabus than if I did the same course at Kingston.”
Data published by the Office for Students last year also found that students who received unconditional offers were more likely to drop out after their first year.
The FOI data showed that in 2017/18, 1,760 people received unconditional offers from Kingston University, where 851 students dropped out that academic year.
There was also a spike in the number of students dropping out from failure to re-enrol in 2017/18. There were 190 students who failed to re-enrol that year, compared with just one student in 2018/19.
Read more about The River’s very own Matt Perry’s choice to drop out and change his university course here at Kingston.
Grace Henley 
Josh Smith 
Ella Rebbitt