AUTISTIC students are more likely to drop out of university or interrupt their studies than any other group, an investigation by a North-East charity has found.

Thirty-six per cent of autistic undergraduate students who enrolled in 2019 did not complete their degree after three years, according to the latest figures obtained by the North East Autism Society.

The rate compares to 29 per cent for the general student population and is higher than that for any other disability group.

Mette Anwar-Westander, Darlington-based founder of research institute Disabled Students UK, said a large part of the problem is that autistic students don’t consistently get the adjustments to which they are legally entitled.

A Disabled Students UK survey found that only 21 per cent of autistic students received the support they required.

“The consequence is that many autistic students either drop out or complete the degree with significant damage to their health, leaving them in a poor condition to continue on to the job market,” said Mette.

“Autistic students face a Higher Education sector that was not designed with them in mind.”

Drop-out rates of autistic students are not officially collated or published. But the North East Autism Society compared enrolment figures for autistic students from the official Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) to the numbers completing their degree three years later.

Freedom of Information requests have been submitted to five North-East universities to find out what their dropout rates are for autistic students.

The investigation is part of the North East Autism Society’s Everyday Equality campaign, launched today (Monday, March 27) to mark World Autism Acceptance Week and highlight the barriers autistic people face.

The charity’s CEO John Phillipson said: “Everyone has a right to study and learn to the best of their ability. Those of us who are autistic should not be denied that because the environment doesn’t meet our needs.”

Lauren Gilbert, disability officer for Newcastle University students’ union, said: “There’s often a very large disconnect between the support that the disability team say they can offer and lecturers and academics actually implementing that support. It happens up and down the country.”

A Newcastle University spokesperson said they worked closely with students and staff to ensure any issues with adjustments were resolved. “We are looking at how we improve monitoring and implementation of Student Support Plans across the University,” the spokesperson added.