The Higher Education Funding Council report suggests 32 per cent of students who started degrees at the college in 2000 are expected to quit their courses.
Almost one in five students - 19 per cent - had dropped out within the first 12 months.
Compared to national data, students at Bolton Institute are twice as likely to drop out than average - compared to a national average figure of 15 per cent - and five times more likely to drop out than students at UMIST.
Earlier this year, an M.E.N. investigation revealed that the institute was willing to offer places to students on degree courses with a single D grade at A level. They even offered our undercover reporter a place on a joint honours maths degree - without an A-level in maths.
But bosses at the institute - which has so far had its bids for university status turned down - deny that their high drop out rates reflect an under demanding admissions process.
Vice principal Peter Marsh says the college is keen to offer opportunity as widely as possible, with all youngsters having attended state schools, 41 per cent belonging to lower socio-economic groups and 27 per cent coming from `low participation neighbourhoods' - areas where few students usually take up degree courses.
He said courses are only offered to students who they expect to benefit from thembut added that offering courses to a wider number of students brings a risk that a greater number will not complete them.
He said: "We attempt to admit students who are able to benefit from the courses and we do our best to make sure students are given the opportunity to succeed - inevitably that's a riskier strategy in terms of the potential outcomes.
Failure
"It's relatively easy for Oxford, Cambridge or Manchester University to cream off students with the highest level of qualifications and not to have retention problems. It's much more difficult to take students that have the potential and then try to make sure they succeed.
"We are proud to offer opportunity. Inevitably with offering opportunity brings a greater degree of risk of possible failure. We are not complacent about retention and have had accolades for projects we have introduced to tackle retention."
Efforts to improve retention, he says, have had some success, but are not revealed in the figures, which Mr Marsh says are now two years out of date.
But Mr Marsh says the college is not complacent and is working to increase the number of full-time students who graduate. "We have improved our induction procedures for new students with pre-entry study skills programmes and we have a much greater focus on personal tutorial support and the tracking of students during their first year.
"We have seen a two per cent improvement in retention over the past year."
The performance indicators - just released by the Higher Education Funding Council - also look at retention rates and the changing nature of university populations with regard to schools attended, social class and neighbourhoods.
According to the tables, 18 per cent of students at Manchester Metropolitan University, who started in 2000, are expected to drop out before completing their courses, with 11 per cent having dropped out within the first year of their undergraduate courses.
At MMU, 95 per cent of undergraduates starting courses in 2001 had attended state schools, 34 per cent were from lower socio-economic groups and 18 per cent from low participation neighbourhoods.
"It is pleasing that the national drive to attract people from different backgrounds into Higher Education is actually working at MMU," said a spokesman for the university.
"That said, the indicators are still deceptive. MMU is performing better than this raw data would suggest."
Students at UMIST are the least likely to drop out with the rate just six per cent.
And only eight per cent of students at Manchester Universtity are projected to quit their courses.
According to the tables, 78 per cent of the university's students had attended state schools, 19 per cent were from lower socio economic groups and 12 per cent were from low participation neighbourhoods.
And Salford University - where 97 per cent of students had attended state schools, 33 per cent were from lower socio-economic groups and 23 per cent were from low participation neighbourhoods - has a student drop out rate of 20 per cent.
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