A new report from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) shows that Trinity’s Medicine and Education students are more likely to drop out of their course than than the national average. Trinity “health and welfare” courses, which includes Health Sciences, had the highest dropout rate, and saw only 80% of students graduate. Nationally, health and welfare courses have one of the highest completion rates at 84%.
Trinity had an overall degree completion rate of 85%. It saw the highest completion rates in Social Sciences, Business and Law. These subjects saw 93% of students graduate.
Trinity also awarded 70% of its students first class or upper second class honours. This was the highest rate in the country and was matched only by St. Patrick’s College of Education, now part of Dublin City University (DCU). The national average in this area was 56%.
The report found that of this year group 76% of students completed their studies and graduated across all sectors. The report surveyed students who entered third-level education in the 2008/09 academic year.
The highest overall completion rates came in Education based courses, where 91% of students graduated. Trinity saw 83% of its Education students graduating, 8% below the national average.
Computing saw the lowest completion rates nationally with 55% of its students graduating.
The report also found differences in the overall completion rate between genders. The completion rate for male students was 71%, in comparison to 81% for females students.
The report further shows varying completion rates for different types of institutions. Completion rates were 94% in colleges, 83% in universities and 74% at institutes of technology.
