Failing Students in Higher Education explores failure from different vantage points: its social and political context; its implications for teachers and learners; and the practices and procedures of the assessment, support and administrative systems surrounding failing students in higher education. Failing and the possibility of failing are everyday experiences in higher education, yet rarely discussed. This text integrates discussions of drop-out, retention and student progress alongside the notion of academic failure. While management of student 'through-put' is of interest to politicians, educators have to manage and understand failing as an important part of the process of learning. This text incorporates new empirical data along with practitioner experience (relating to student counselling, learning support and administration, as well as the more traditional roles of academic staff) and analyses practice issues within a policy framework that takes into account past and current political trends.