Action urged on student debt to cut drop-out rate dropping out

The government is today urged by a Labour-dominated committee of MPs to give careful consideration to its plans for an expansion of the number of people entering higher education amid fears about funding and debt which could lead to new students failing to complete their courses.

In a report on student retention in higher education, the Commons education select committee said increased student numbers must be matched by increased funding. The MPs also called for urgent research on how the abolition of maintenance grants is affecting drop-out rates, particularly among students from poor backgrounds.

They also demand that the earnings threshold at which graduates have to start paying back their student loans should be raised substantially. The Tories said they would double the threshold to £20,000 a year - a figure endorsed by committee chairman, Labour MP Barry Sheerman.

The UK has the second lowest drop-out rate in the world (17%), but the MPs stress that further action must be taken to reduce the number of students who do not achieve a recognised qualification.

The prime minister set a target of 50% of those between 18 and 30 taking up university places by the end of the decade. But the MPs urged "very careful consideration to any further expansion in the number of places".

The committee recommended that universities should work towards "mutual recognition" of first year modules to allow portability so that students who left an institution in their first year would not be discouraged from returning to college.

With a clear link between student drop-out rates and quality of teaching, the government was also urged to address the growing disparity between academic salaries and those in other careers. The bureaucratic demands of annual research assessments on staff should be reduced to allow them to concentrate on teaching.