Richard Bruton
Question:325 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of drop out rates in each of the Irish universities and institutes of technology in the past five years. [15319/03]
Written Answers. - Third Level Drop-Out Rates.
The statistical information sought by the Deputy is not readily available. The most recent figures on attrition rates for third level are the result of research carried out at the request of my Department by the Educational Research Centre, ERC, at St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra, Dublin. The ERC published quantitative surveys of non-completion rates in undergraduate courses in institutes of technology in 2000 and in universities in 2001. It should be noted, however, that there were differences between fields of study in both surveys with subject areas such as computing, engineering and science showing higher non-completion rates than business studies and the humanities.
The following table published by the ERC outlines non-completion rates over a four year period for first-time entrants to 11 institutes of technology in the academic year 1995-96. The Dublin Institute of Technology also conducted a similar study for the 1994 cohort of full-time first year students and its results are outlined as follows.
Variation by institute of technology:
|
Name of institute |
Non-completion rate |
|
% |
|
|
Athlone |
44.47 |
|
Carlow |
47 |
|
Cork |
32.62 |
|
Dundalk |
58.18 |
|
Galway-Mayo |
41.42 |
|
Letterkenny |
60.55 |
|
Limerick |
45.30 |
|
Sligo |
41.97 |
|
Tallaght |
45.71 |
|
Tralee |
39.39 |
|
Waterford |
32.86 |
|
Overall |
42.61 |
|
Dublin Institute of Technology |
39.46 |
The non-completion rates recorded by the ERC study for each of the universities are based on the 1992-93 cohort and are as follows:
|
% |
|
|
Dublin City University |
21.4 |
|
University College Cork |
14.6 |
|
NUI Galway |
12.9 |
|
NUI Maynooth |
27.9 |
|
Trinity College Dublin |
16.2 |
|
University College Dublin |
14.2 |
|
University of Limerick |
20.5 |
|
Overall |
16.8 |
In dealing with attrition rates, there is a need to develop an inter-institutional tracking system. The Higher Education Authority is developing an oracle-based data system to store detailed student-related data. In this regard, work is ongoing in relation to the development of a system to facilitate the identification of cases where students fail to progress to the next year of a course. In the institute of technology sector, a computerised management information system is currently being developed. The aim of the project is to support the efficient and effective administration of the institutes of technology, and, when fully operational, the new system will provide enhanced information on attrition rates.