Trinity has the lowest drop-out rate of any Irish university, with just seven per cent of students failing to progress to second year, a report published by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) today has revealed.
Both the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG) and the University of Limerick have the highest rates – with 13 per cent of students failing to progress to second year, while Dublin City University and University College Dublin follow at rates of 12 and 11 per cent, respectively. Trinity is well below the 11 per cent national average for universities, and is the only university to see improvement compared to the last similar report in 2014.
The report also breaks down the drop-out rate before second year, referred to as the “non-progression rate” by the HEA, for eight generalised fields of study in universities, with eight per cent of students studying social science, business, law, arts and humanities courses in Trinity failing to progress. Five per cent of those studying healthcare-related courses dropout. Nationally, 15 per cent of students fail to progress in computer science-related courses, something that will be of cause for concern even though it is 1 percentage point lower than figures from the last report. Dublin City University has the highest drop-out rate in this area, with 21 per cent, whilst NUIG has the lowest at three per cent.
Trinity’s computer science drop-out rate, at 12 per cent, is quite high, but it does not have the highest rate of a field, with 22 per cent – or almost one quarter – of students in education-related courses dropping out before second year in Trinity. While Trinity really only has one undergraduate course which could be considered part of this category, the Bachelor of Music Education, three education-related degree courses in Marino Institute of Technology, including a degree in primary school teaching, are accredited by Trinity and are included in this figure.
The rate is much lower for universities than it is for institutes of technology. Nationally, 16 per cent of students in institutes of technology fail to progress, while it is as high as 28 and 26 per cent for those studying either level 6 or level 7 courses. Computer science non-progression is also very high in these institutions, with 29 per cent failing to progress.
Overall, females are more likely to progress in all sectors and a student’s socioeconomic group also predicts their progression. The lowest level of non-progression is seen amongst the “Farmers” and “Higher Professionals” groups, at 10 per cent, the report says.
The figures released today are a review of the 2012/13 and 2013/14 academic years. In the report, Tom Boland, the CEO of the HEA, said that the “successful participation of an increasing diversity of students” is a key policy priority for the HEA and for the government.
