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BRIAN MOONEY'S ADVICE CENTRE:As outlined in the recent annual report from the OECD, Education at a Glance 2008, almost one-third ofthird-level applicants who accept a place on an undergraduate degree programme fail to complete their course.

Many of these students drop out in the first year of the programme. This non-completion figure varies from over 50 per cent in Italy and the US, to as low as 15 per cent in Denmark and 10 per cent in Japan. Ireland is almost alone in not producing any figures for non-completion rates among its undergraduate students, but it is likely that we are experiencing rates close to the OECD average of 30 per cent. Interestingly, the report finds that there is no relationship between the charging of tuition fees and completion rates.