Recently published third-level retention rates may have shocked the general public, but in academia they come as no surprise.
Drop-out figures of around 20 per cent have been talked about in third-level circles for some time. The study of non-completion rates in undergraduate university courses, which was commissioned by the HEA, shows an overall retention rate of 83 per cent. Irish completion rates compare favourably with those in other OECD countries. Indeed, Ireland's performance is ahead of Britain, Germany and the US. There is, however, no room for complacency. Some universities and some areas of study suffer particularly high noncompletion rates. NUI Maynooth (27.9 per cent), DCU (21.4 per cent) UL (20.5 per cent) show the highest drop-rates.
Rates are one thing. What we really need to know, academics argue, are the reasons for nonretention. In some quarters the HEA study has been criticised for this omission. If you don't know why people are dropping out of college, you can't begin to address the problems.
The HEA has allocated £400,000 to the seven universities to boost retention through a range of initiatives. The Minister for Education and Science, Dr Michael Woods, has announced that he fully accepts the recommendation in the HEA report that all universities should develop explicit policies on retention and he has asked the HEA to review these policies within 12 months. The implication is that poor retention performance is all the fault of the universities. Talk to the student unions, though, and you'll be left in no doubt that the main reasons students drop out of college can be laid firmly at the door of the Department of Education and Science. The student unions cite choosing the wrong college course - i.e. poor guidance - and lack of finance - i.e. insufficient grants - as the major causes of college dropout.
Other students fare poorly at university largely because they have been through a school system which regards memory as the ultimate talent. "Because the Leaving Cert is basically a memory test, students come to college thinking that all they have to do to get through is to memorise their notes," says a third-level source. A system of continuous school-based assessment, where students become academically self-reliant and motivated, would go a long way to improving performance at third level, this source argues. "From an academic standpoint, there's evidence that the approach to teaching in second level is conditioned by the nature of the Leaving Cert exam," says UCD's registrar, Dr Caroline Hussey. "In schools, the learning is very structured and this makes it difficult for less gifted people to make the transition to self-directed learning at university." A high proportion of second-year students, she says, report problems with study skills and exam stress. The Government's continued failure to improve the ratio of guidance counsellors in schools is viewed as the root cause of another problem. "I talk to a lot of people who are considering dropping out," says the president of DCU's student union Hugo Brady. "The main reason identified is the lack of career guidance in schools. People apply for a course and then find out is doesn't suit them. "I dropped out of civil engineering at Galway RTC six years ago," says Noel Hogan, student union president at NUI Maynooth and a recent graduate in history and geography. "At school we had a good guidance counsellor but he was completely overworked. It was hard to get an appointment and you'd only get one half-hour with him to discuss your whole future. More course choice means that more people are going to make the wrong choice. I'd say most people don't drop out altogether, they take up something else." More than a quarter of all undergraduate computerscience students fail to complete their studies, the HEA survey shows. The drive to increase the number of computer graduates and the lure of lucrative jobs means that pupils are under great pressure to take up computer-science courses - even when they may not be suited to them, Hogan says. Student unions are also concerned that school guidance counsellors may be directing people towards "cash quick" careers, rather than first examining their pupils' aptitudes.
A major factor in students performing poorly at university, and hence increasing their chances of non-completion, is part-time working. Some 80 per cent of DCU students hold down part-time jobs, according to Brady. Given the inadequacy of student grants, many youngsters feel they have no option but to take up part-time work in order to pay their way at college. "You have to work at least 16 hours per week in order to make any money," Brady says. If it wished, the Government could play a major role in reducing the incidence of college drop-out - by ensuring that students are not forced to work long hours in order to finance their way through college. This year, the full annual maintenance grant for a student living away from home is £1,775 (increased in September to £2,000 for targeted disadvantaged students). It's barely enough to cover rent costs let alone pay for food, travel, books and other expenses.
Over the years, grant increases have been minimal. Since 1982, inflation has totalled 121 per cent. Grants, however, have increased by only 77 per cent. A revised, improved and innovative grants scheme designed to ensure that the well-off don't benefit at the expense of the poor would go a long way to rectify current inequities.
