One in four Durham PhD students leave study without achieving their target doctorate degree. The data, acquired through a
Palatinate Freedom of Information request, reveals performance is particularly poor in certain departments, with Computer Science, Education, and History performing amongst the worst in their respective faculties.
Palatinate received data from 10 UK universities counting the number of PhD students who left study between the 2015/16 and 2019/20 academic years and how many of those students received a doctoral degree. The figures include some medical students and other doctoral awards, while a small minority of students leave study due to transferring to another university.