单选题
Oxford University would be excluded out of those universities that receive PhD grants from ESRC, because the completion rate of its PhD students' theses within four years is lower than ______.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】文中第二段，叙述了ESRC's response，指出它第一年的政策the national aver- age shot up to 39%，随后指出除非进一步提高completion rates否则，诸如牛津大学之类的学校就将会被排除在外，可判断如果completion rate低于39%就可能会被排除，其中提到的 40%只是一种设想。