A Varsity investigation into the University’s dropout statistics has found a worrying lack of transparency behind the impressively low figures. There is particular ambiguity surrounding the concept of ‘degrading’.

With fewer than 1 per cent of all undergraduates leaving their course every year, the University of Cambridge has the lowest dropout rate in the country. In 2009/10, of 12,084 undergraduates, only 46 dropped out, or 0.38 per cent of the cohort.

A University of Cambridge spokesman accounts for the low rate with "the high level of pastoral support offered by the colleges and those who teach our students".

These official figures, however, do not include the number of people taking a year off, or ‘degrading’. In 2009/10, 185 students – or 1.5 per cent of the undergraduate population – degraded, three times as many as those who left altogether.

Degrading usually involves taking a complete calendar year off before continuing studies. Although it is expected that students will resume contact with their college, some inevitably do not. For this reason, unlike the University’s own statistics, nationwide figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) only compare universities on the basis of the number of undergraduate students who continue from their first year to second year at the same institution.

According to HESA’s latest public figures (2007-08), 20 Cambridge first-years elected to transfer to another higher education institution, and 0.8 per cent of all first year students did not continue their course at the University in the subsequent year.

The quality of support and information provided for students who consider leaving the University depends heavily on the college. Varsity talked to one student who degraded after Michaelmas term in their first year: "The College didn’t try to push me in either direction, going or staying, which is good in theory but was actually unhelpful when I felt so bewildered and unsupported. My doctor said I needed time out, and that was all the College needed to hear to sign the papers allowing me to degrade; beyond that it felt like nobody at the University really cared whether I stayed or left."

Another student, who was "never happy at Cambridge", explains that moving university was the best option for them: "I transferred into year two doing the same course elsewhere. Now I’m on track to get a good grade, I have time to do lots of extra-curricular stuff and I am doing a placement year in London next year. I’d like to think this will put me in a much better position employment-wise."

The student welcomes the Varsity investigation, acknowledging that the University was supportive but unable to advise them on the next step: "My tutor was very helpful. My Director of Studies was sympathetic, but lacking advice. I was surprised I wasn’t asked to give reasons for leaving back at the time. It was a struggle even to get confirmation that I’d been withdrawn!"

The University is clearly uncomfortable with the uncertainty and stigma surrounding degrading. The recent Annual Report of the Applications Committee to the Council show that the committee received a request to change the name of the process due to the "somewhat negative connotations" of the term. The report praises "certain Colleges which require students to clear a college-set academic hurdle before resuming study".

Grae Worster, Senior Tutor at Trinity College, revealed parallel concerns to Varsity: "I do not like the term ‘drop-out’ but I think there is an important distinction to be made between those students who find the courses here unsuited to their interests (…) and those students who for various personal or medical reasons are granted leave to degrade."

Another cause for concern is that it seems easier to degrade – and therefore avoid failing – for students at some colleges than at others.

There is no fixed system for degrading, which can result in confusion among welfare staff. Several students report that they have been misinformed by their tutors, especially on the entitlement for student finance.

"For all those miserable Freshers out there: You’re guaranteed four years of student finance, so if you want to do a different three-year course, there’s still time!", says a student who dropped out of their English course after their first year because "my course was teaching me absolutely nothing".

According to HESA the national average drop-out rate is 7.2% - much higher than both at Oxford and Cambridge. The University of Oxford has a similar system to Cambridge’s degrading, referred to as ‘self-rustication’, or simply ‘going down’ for a year.

As with Cambridge, the practice differs from college to college, but the option to self-rusticate is available across the University. At other universities, although in extreme cases (usually health reasons) a student may be able to drop out temporarily and return the following year, there is no specific name or system for this. It therefore remains ambiguous as to whether or not the numbers of students degrading is included in their drop-out statistics.