A recent survey has found 37% of students have “seriously considered” withdrawing from their degree programmes.
The research was carried out amongst first final year undergraduates, as well as postgraduate students, across 25 higher education institutions.
The reasons given for consideration of withdrawal were found to be: Personal or family reasons (13%); Financial reasons (10%); Transfer to another institution (9%); Other (8%); Health reasons (6%) and; Employment (5%).
Of this 37% considering withdrawal, 35% were first year undergraduate students. This is starkly contrasted against the 2019-2020 statistic of only a 9% non-progression rate from first year to second year undergraduate.
There has been an increase in students’ engagement with learning since 2021, when learning was affected by the pandemic, particularly in areas such as, collaborative learning, student-faculty interaction, quality of interactions, and supportive environment.
The manager of the survey, Dr Siobhán Nic Fhlannchadha, has stated, “The results of StudentSurvey.ie have immense value for each of the higher education institutions, as well as for the whole higher education sector. I am always struck by how students use the survey to reflect critically and constructively on their experience.
“For staff in the higher education institutions and organisations, these results represent an opportunity to grow, and I hope they make the most of it. The results this year show that students are facing challenges and institutions are providing supports to help them succeed.”
The survey has also found that 84% of respondents would choose the same institution if they were to start over again, 58% of respondents believed that their institution emphasised providing support to help students succeed academically, and only 43% of respondents indicated as excellent the quality of interactions with academic staff.
