Growing pressures on students such as high rents, long commutes and long hours spent working part-time are among the likely factors behind rising dropout rates in college courses, a university president has warned.
Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh, outgoing president of University of Galway, said these factors appear to be threatening the student experience and a sense of belonging to the college campus.
“There’s no doubt that Covid did affect student resilience and sense of connection ... Finding accommodation and commuting, that’s challenging. I think, possibly, grade inflation has had an effect,” he said.
“Students are working as well to make ends meet. There’s a lot in the mix that’s very different. Universities are bigger, but I do think there’s a very vibrant clubs and societies scene, so it’s a pity that students sometimes can’t engage with that.”
Latest official data shows the number of students who did not progress from first to second year increased from 9 per cent in 2019/2020, or 3,600 students, to 15 per cent in 2021/2022, or almost 7,000 students.
While dropout rates fell to an all-time low during Covid – when colleges put in place supports such as open-book exams and remote lectures for students – they have now exceed pre-pandemic levels of 12-13 per cent.
The data has prompted a wider debate over whether some students would fare better in more hands-on learning.
Ireland has among the highest rates of students going to higher education in the EU and one of the lowest rates of vocational education and training.
Prof Ó hÓgartaigh, meanwhile, said research for the college’s strategy revealed a “desire for belonging”, which he said was significant.
“I think that there is a sense of a disconnect in society; it’s probably social media, Covid or division in the world. All of that has created challenges,” he said.
He also warned that Ireland risks losing its top students to colleges overseas unless promised investment is made into the higher education sector to boost staff-student ratios and supports.
While he said the Government has made progress in tackling the underfunding of higher education, it needed to go further to reach its own targets set out under the previous minister for higher education Simon Harris.
“If they go as undergraduates, they’re more likely to stay gone. If they go as postgraduates, it’s a shorter course and they may well come back, but the challenge for us is that really good students could end up leaving,” he said.
The Department of Further and Higher Education has previously highlighted its allocation of additional core funding of more than €100 million over the last two budgets, which it said was leading to increased staffing levels and enhanced support services for students.
However, universities say more than €300 million in additional core funding has been pledged and many increases in core funding have been “wiped out” by pay inflation arising from national pay agreements, as well as other factors.
Prof Ó hÓgartaigh also said there were “missed opportunities” over recent years to return inflated grades to more normal levels and questioned whether there should be political interferences in these areas.
He said the issue of students on maximum points losing out on their chosen college places due to random selection was “very problematic” and linked to grade inflation.
“There are some courses where you could possibly increase numbers. These are really good students, why wouldn’t you? There are some where it would be much more challenging, particularly medicine or dentistry,” he said. “My own view is random selection should be avoided, where possible, though in some cases it can’t.”
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
