W2C-007 Belfast Telegraph 6-3.txt
Student storm. Drop-out figures are challenged David Watson

Northern Ireland's two universities today challenged the latest controversial league table, which shows how the leading UK campuses all perform on students'failure and drop-out rates.

Queen's University came eighteenth out of a list of fifty-six United Kingdom institutions, while the University of Ulster emerged at number thirty-six.

Crude

The survey, published in Push, the University Students'Handbook, showed that only a few percentage points separated both - 10.67pc for Queen's and 13.71pc for the UU.

It said that almost one in eight students fail exams or drop out, with Salford University hitting the bottom of the table at 26.4pc.

Today, a Queen's spokesman said the figures indicated their record was better than the national average.

But, he said, they had been described by the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals as "very crude and potentially misleading".

"People who fail to finish their course at university do so for all kinds of reasons and we at Queen's have a large number of welfare procedures and means of assisting students to minimise the failure and drop-out rate," he added.

The University of Ulster said they concentrated on success and not failure.

A spokesman said in some courses they had very high pass rates, including 93 per cent in English and history and 91 per cent in education.

Switched

The university acknowledged that some technical subjects were more demanding, and new students could find difficulties. But staff looked "very carefully" at problem areas and examiners were "more than happy" with their courses, he added.

The national vice-chancellors committee claimed the table was misleading, as it did not include factors such as students who switched courses.

Push editor Johnny Rich, said: "With flunk rates rising, it has never been more important for prospective students to get the best information when applying."
He added: "Those universities who have consistently been more than mere degree factories can boast a greater level of success at the end of the day.
These universities realise that when students choose a university, they are choosing more than a course."
