One third of IT students do not complete course
One third of IT Sligo students fail to complete their course, according to a report published by the Higher Education Authority.
Almost half (47%) of those taking level 6 courses fail to complete their course, while 34% of those taking level 7 courses do not complete them.
Level 8 courses are not completed by 20% of students.
14% of St. Angela’s College students fail to finish their degrees.
The study looked at the rates of completion of 34,059 students who entered Irish Universities, Institutes and Colleges full time at undergraduate level in the 2007/8 academic year.
These students were tracked over the following ten years and the report finds that overall, 76% of them graduated within that period.
At Level 8 Honours Degree Level, more than four in every five students completed with completion rates of 94% in the Colleges (Colleges of Education and NCAD), 83% in the Universities and 74% in the Institutes of Technology.
At 62%, the levels of completion at level 6 and 7 programmes is lower, but that still means that more than three in five at this level complete their course. Among the other key findings were:
– Students on education/teaching courses are most likely to complete at 91%, followed by those in health & welfare areas at 84%. The lowest completion field is computing at 55%. – Completion rates for females are higher than males (81% v 71%) and this reflects the generally higher performance rates of females in education generally.
– Performance in the Leaving Certificate, especially in Leaving Certificate Maths and in English, is a good indicator of likelihood to complete a third level course. In general, the higher the Leaving Cert points, the more likely to complete.
– Concerning the length of their course, 58% of students graduated on time, 71% graduated a year later than usual and in total, 76% completed at some stage.
– 63% of non-completion is accounted for by students leaving during their first year in college.
– Ireland compares well internationally on this data.