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A third of students not finishing bachelor degree after six years
As it strong-arms universities to become more transparent about graduate outcomes, the federal government has named the country’s best and worst performing institutions, when it comes to completion rates, for the first time.
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Doing a 4-year course (e.g., engineering, law, psychology, speech pathology, physiotherapy, other allied health professional courses) obviously takes eight years minimum. Such students are not drop outs after six years. Do the data reflect actual discontinuations and fails or do those data also include part-time students who are continuing their courses? Also, do those data adjust for students who defer (or intermit) their studies due to family demands or the need to remain in full-time employment in order to survive. For example, a part-time in a 4-year degree such as psychology who takes a year off mid course would need nine years to complete his or her course.
Hi Greg,
This story here offers a counterpoint and should answer some of your questions: https://www.campusreview.com.au/2017/01/unis-call-for-perspective-in-completion-rate-debate/
Cheers,
James
I am unsure of whether any weighting is applied to the rating system to account for proportion of lower socio economic status students that could place regional universities at a disadvantage if completion rate is simply measured in absolute terms. The rankin is not necessarily comapring apples with apples.