Vol. 519 No. 5
346 Mr. Noonan asked the Minister for Education and Science when a report of drop-out levels at the universities and third level colleges, commissioned by the Higher Education Authority and conducted by the education research unit at St. Patrick's College of Education, Drumcondra, will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14362/00]
The Higher Education Authority has commissioned the Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra, to undertake a study on non-completion. The study will consider a range of factors as to their effect on completion rates such as socio-economic factors, entry requirements, time of enrolment, availability of repeat examinations and the transition from second to third level education. I understand that the report is expected to be available in the near future.
The Council of Directors of Institutes of Technology has also commissioned the Educational Research Centre, Drumcondra, to undertake a comprehensive study on the issue of non-completion in the institutes and the research project team is in the process of collating the necessary data.
The Dublin Institute of Technology is also conducting a two-year quantitative and qualitative investigation of student withdrawal within the institute, which is a similar and comparable study to that commissioned by the Council of Directors of Institutes of Technology.
It is understood that the first part of these two reports, involving quantitative analysis, will be available in the near future. The second part, involving qualitative analysis, will be available at a later date.
