Student drop-out rate doubles, claims Labour

THE number of students dropping out of further education has more than doubled in four years, according to Scottish Labour’s leader Kezia Dugdale.

She said the number had risen from 934 in 2011/12 to 2,256 in 2015/16.

The figures are taken from sixmonth periods, with the latter representing the equivalent of 12 people each day, according to the party. Ms Dugdale raised the issue at First Minister’s Questions at Holyrood as a new report indicates the number of full-time equivalent students in Scotland’s colleges fell last year.

She said: “Colleges are the engine of our economy, for many people they are the second chance in education, or the first chance that they never had.

“But even if a young person does make it to college under the SNP, far too many don’t complete their course.

“A ‘sacred responsibility’, that is how the First Minister described her responsibility to every young person in this country.

“Well, they are being held back by our First Minister. It is harder to get into college under the SNP and if you get in, it is even harder to stay there.”

Ms Dugdale raised the issue as Audit Scotland published its annual review of colleges.

It found a drop in the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) students from 2014/15 to 2015/16.

Audit Scotland also noted FTE student numbers at “incorporated colleges” – the vast majority of colleges –were at their lowest level for almost a decade.

The Scottish Government has disputed some of the figures used in the report.