(a) Attrition rate for year(x) is the proportion of students who commenced a bachelor course in year(x) who neither complete nor return in year(x + 1).

(b) Includes only Public Universities (Table A).

(c) Figures are based on full year data.

(d) Data for the Australian Defence Force Academy data are included under University of New South Wales in this publication (for all years). Australian Defence Force Academy was excluded in the corresponding tables in previous years.

(e) Previously University of Ballarat.

(f) Prior to 2006 The University of Melbourne classified Study Abroad students as award. These were re-classififed in 2006 to non-award, removing them from the scope of Retention calculation and affecting the rates.

(g) The Australian Maritime College is reported as a part of the University of Tasmania from 2008. These were previously reported separately.

(h) As a result of a collaborative partnership between Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education and Charles Darwin University which established The Australian Centre for Indigenous Knowledge and Education (ACIKE),

(i) Attrition rate (normal calculation) is based on a match process using the students' StudentID. This gives a "crude" attrition rate, which identifies students that neither complete a course nor are retained the following year at the same institution.

SOURCE: Department of Education: selected higher education statistics 2013.