These are the Russell Group universities where you’re most likely to drop out before second year

We’re often told that university is meant to be the time of our lives, but for many that is far from the case. Some students even choose to take decisive action and cut their university experience short.

Of the 329,315 young, full-time undergraduates who started university in the 2019/20 academic year, 5.3 per cent dropped out and didn’t continue into their second year, according to new data provided by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA).

While this is the lowest rate on record, at one university, nearly a third of new students dropped out.

32.3 per cent of young entrants to Arden University dropped out before continuing into their second year, while Point Blank Music School and SAE Education Music School saw rates of 19.2 per cent and 18.5 per cent respectively.

A spokesperson for Arden University told i: “We are changing our teaching and timetable model and have introduced a major financial support scheme, as well as placing a focus on addressing digital poverty to help many of the most disadvantaged students in the UK.”

Now to the universities you’ve actually heard of. In terms of the Russell Group, the highest rates of students not continuing into second year were observed at Cardiff University (3.4 per cent), University of Exeter (2.8 per cent), University of Liverpool (2.8 per cent).

At the other end of the spectrum you’ll find the real BIG hitters, who are clearly still doing something right and making nearly all their students stick around to see what the rest of their degrees have to offer.

Cambridge’s rate is 0.6 per cent, shortly followed by Oxford (0.9 per cent) and their annoying younger cousin Durham (1.3 per cent).

Here are all the Russell Group universities ranked from highest to lowest dropout rates:

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