During the first semester, 13.29 per cent of undergraduate students failed an exam in DCU, according to an FOI request.
Data released to the College View through the Freedom of Information Act has revealed that 1,698 undergraduate students out of the 12,781 currently studying in DCU failed at least one of their exams.
Students who are unsuccessful in their examinations must resit the exam and pay the college a fee of €190. Students who fail to do so risk failing the module and the course.
The Institute of Education faculty [IoE] had the lowest number of failed exams last semester with only 63 students out of 3,485, less than two per cent of the faculty failing their exams.
“Our failure rates might be lower because Education programmes tend to have year-long modules so status at June will give a more accurate picture,” said Pádraig Ó Duibhir, Deputy Dean at the IoE.
“Also, students may have only one high-credit placement module in a semester. The programmes are intensive in terms of class contact time and this may have a positive impact on continuous assessment and examinations,” said Duibhir.
In comparison, students under the subset of the Business Studies/Humanities and Social Sciences group (DCUBS/HSS) namely, the economics, politics and law students had the highest fail rate with 91 students out of 296 failing an exam. This is 30.73 per cent of the faculty.
Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning of DCU Business School, Caroline McMullan said that it is important to be “aware that the results are provisional and may change quite significantly once the PABs [Progression and Awards Board] meet in June and pass by compensation etc. is applied. They also contain many instances whereby students may have been absent through illness or otherwise deferred.”
Data also revealed that 15.45 per cent of students changed their module choice this semester. Nearly 98 per cent of students changed before the change of mind free period ended, with 57 students doing so afterwards.
Changes to optional modules for Semester two could be made free of charge from January 29th to February 12th 2018.
Changes made during the late change of mind period were liable for a late change fee of €60 and are subject to approval by the Programme Chairperson and Registry. It was impossible to change modules for Semester two after the 16th February.
Callum Lavery
Image Credit: IB Times