Attainment
These measures examine the numbers of students who achieve a first or upper second-class degree.
Attainment rates for students obtaining a first or upper second-class degree in 2018-19 by characteristic
| Characteristic |
Category |
Full-time undergraduate attainment rate (%) |
Full-time undergraduate attainment gap (pp) |
Part-time undergraduate attainment rate (%) |
Part-time undergraduate attainment gap (pp) |
| Age |
Young |
80.2 |
|
44.4 |
|
| |
Mature |
70.3 |
9.9 |
61.3 |
-16.9 |
| Disability |
No known disability |
78.7 |
|
58.5 |
|
| |
Disabled |
76.2 |
2.5 |
52.4 |
6.1 |
| Ethnicity |
White |
82.2 |
|
64.3 |
|
| |
Black |
60.1 |
22.1 |
28.6 |
35.7 |
| POLAR4 |
Q5 |
84.1 |
|
48.1 |
|
| |
Q1 |
74.5 |
9.6 |
43.0 |
5.0 |
Note: Attainment rate reflects students obtaining a first or upper second-class degree in 2018-19. Because of rounding, the gaps shown in the table might not be the same as the difference between two rates.
The attainment rate for both young and mature full-time students has increased slightly over the last five years, but the gap remains quite large. In 2018-19, the attainment rate for mature students was 9.9 percentage points lower than for young students.
The attainment rate for disabled students is lower than for students with no known disability over the time series, although this gap has reduced from 3.1 percentage points in 2014-15 to 2.5 percentage points in 2018-19.
Sector-level time series of gaps in attainment rates between students with no known disability and disabled students
Disabled students have a lower attainment rate than students with no known disability in two-thirds of higher education providers. For 13 per cent of providers, the attainment rate for students with no known disability is more than 10 percentage points higher than for disabled students.
Gaps in attainment rate between students with no known disability and disabled students by provider
Note: Based on the attainment rate for 147 providers
The attainment rate for black students is more than 20 percentage points lower than for white students across the five-year time series. Although the gap has closed by two percentage points in the last five years it remains very large at 22.1 percentage points in 2018-19.
Sector-level time series of gaps in attainment rates between white and black students
This gap in attainment rate between white and black students exists at every higher education provider. For just over half of providers, this gap is greater than 20 percentage points.
Gaps in attainment rate between white and black students by provider
In 2018-19, there was a 9.6 percentage point gap between the proportion of full-time students from the most and least represented groups (POLAR4 quintile 5 and quintile 1) attaining 1sts or 2:1s. The gap has closed slightly over the last five years, but remains quite large.
