Outside Benchmark Expectations? Variation in non-completion rates in English higher education

The performance data for UK higher education institutions which were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England in the year 2000 are sophisticated in that, in the provision of benchmark data, they take account of institutional variation. However, the non-completion data do not take into account a number of significant parameters that, when taken into account qualitatively, suggest that these might account to a considerable extent for performance deviation above and below benchmark level. The analysis presented in this article suggests that an uncritical use of the performance data (for instance, in league tables of institutions) might not give adequate credit to institutions that are succeeding in relatively unpropitious demographic environments.