Dropout rates across the Russell Group
A ranking of first-year continuation across the 24 Russell Group universities puts Queen Mary highest, with 5.8 per cent of first years not continuing. Continuation rates are published for every university and every subject, they are the single best predictor of whether students like you finish, and almost no applicant looks at them. Surviving second year covers what changes if you do.
Meningitis B vaccine offered to students before they leave
Jersey will offer meningitis B vaccination to students preparing to start university, after two outbreaks this year in which the strain involved was B — which the MenACWY vaccine given at school does not cover. No equivalent programme exists across the UK; students elsewhere can ask a GP, though MenB is not routinely funded for adults. GP registration and staying healthy covers the rest.
Students protest a sponsor at their own graduate show
Students protested L’Oréal’s sponsorship of a graduate fashion show over the company’s links to Israel, carrying banners reading “money for jobs and education, not for war and occupation”. Sponsorship of degree shows, prizes and facilities is one of the few places where students have direct leverage, because the sponsor wants the association.
Reading past the headline on public attitudes
HEPI examines the British Social Attitudes findings that a third of people no longer think a degree is worth it, and asks whether this is a pre-populist moment for universities — public support thinning before the politics catches up. The analysis is more careful than the headline, and more worrying.