The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) annually publishes the performance indicators (PIs) for each college and also for the sector as a whole.
These PIs are one measure of the performance of a course of study although many other factors can also lead to a positive outcome.
The four main PIs used by the SFC are:
This indicates that a student has withdrawn from their course before the ‘funding qualifying date’ i.e. before approx. 25% of the course has elapsed.
2. Further Withdrawal
This indicates that the student attended after the funding qualifying date but withdrew from their course prior to its planned end date.
Again, positive reasons for withdrawal include gaining employment.
3. Completed: Partial Success
This indicates that the student completed their course but did not gain the target qualification aim. It is generally accepted that the student will have gained some benefit from completing their course and may be satisfied with the attainment achieved as it can support progression for the student to a positive destination. For example, they may enrol to study three Highers but then receive a conditional offer from a university based on passing just two Highers. In that scenario the student may decide to withdraw from one of the Highers to concentrate on passing the two required for entry to their university course.
4. Completed: Successful
This indicates that the student has completed their course and has achieved the qualification aim for their course. Note that if the student was on a course of more than one year and was not in the final year they will have progressed to the next year of study and achieved at least 70% of the units studied in the current year.
