Pass rates high but computing and engineering courses continue to struggle

More than 85% of DCU undergraduates advanced into the new academic year with faculties like the School of Business achieving particularly high pass rates, according to new figures obtained by the College View.

However, there are causes for concern for the college authorities with the figures illustrating worryingly high failure rates in some computing and engineering courses.

The figures obtained from the Institutional Research and Analysis Office are the most comprehensive of their kind released by DCU. They show the pass, failure and deferral rates of all undergraduates from each of the 18 schools as well as overall completion rates based on those who graduated in the 07/08 academic year.

The School of Business achieved the most satisfactory results out of all five faculties with a 91% pass rate amongst business students last year.

This level has been maintained by the faculty for the past five years and reflects “the ongoing commitment of both students and staff in the school,” according to dean of the school, Professor Bernard Pierce.

A 95% pass rate was achieved by students studying in the School of Health and Human Performance, the highest amongst all 18 schools. This was closely followed by the Schools of Education and Nursing with 93% of their students progressing respectively.

However, DCU did replicate the dismal trends seen in many computing, engineering and science courses across the country with some schools struggling to keep failure rates below 30%.

The School of Computing produced the highest failure rate with a third of its students failing their exams last year in comparison to fewer than 19% in 2005.

Engineering courses also faired quite poorly with more than double the amount of students failing than was the case five years ago.

Jim Dowling, dean of Engineering and Computing, accepted that there is a need for improvement in its students’ pass rates. He added that an inadequate level of mathematics among first years is a factor behind the figures and that is it being addressed by the university.

“We acknowledge that we would like to see improvement in the pass rates of our students across the faculty, and particularly in those areas where students are experiencing the most difficulties,” he commented. We often find that students are not prepared for the mathematics content of our programmes. For this reason we offer our students additional tutorial work in first year of the programme to support their transition to university level studies.”

Students’ Union education and welfare officer John Murphy was overall “very pleased” with the figures.

“Needless to say, the pass rates are pretty impressive. It shows that we’ve got some really dedicated and hard working students along with some great lecturing staff here in DCU,” he said.

“Of course, the failure rate is that bit higher in Engineering and Computing. This is a constant trend that’s been going on for years and it’s a serious issue that needs to be tackled. Given that I did my undergrad in computing, I think I’m in a good position to help them overcome this problem,” he added.

Overall, 76% of students who began their degrees in 2003 graduated last year. Of the remainder, 20% of these students did not complete their studies at DCU whilst 4% are continuing their studies here.