Students who drop out of University College Dublin during their first year cite "wrong choice of course" as the main reason.
According to "Staying the Course - A Study of Student Retention", a study published yesterday, 15.9 per cent of UCD entrants from 1999-2001 are no longer in their original faculty. Almost 52 per cent of this number left UCD before completing first year.
The UCD registrar, Dr Caroline Hussey, commissioned the study to combat the factors that contribute to first-year dropouts.
More than 70 per cent of students who withdrew during their first year ranked "wrong choice of course" as one of the main factors. Dr Hussey said this was supported by data that showed the majority of first-year dropouts reapply through CAO.