Non-Traditional Student Statistics

Non-Traditional Student Statistics

As part of the Trinity Inclusive Curriculum (TIC) Project data was collated from across the three access initiatives in Trinity College Dublin (TCD). These are:

-  The Disability Service

-  The Mature Students’ Office

-  Trinity Access Programmes

The results are shown in this document.

Aims

-  To clarify the numbers of students currently studying in TCD from non-traditional backgrounds so as to fit service to demand.

-  To obtain a breakdown of non-traditional students studying across the faculties and schools of TCD.

-  To gain a picture of the annual figures for new entrants from non-traditional backgrounds entering TCD.

Points of Note:

1.  These statistics represent the number of:

a.  undergraduate students who entered TCD as mature students,

b.  students who are registered with TAP

c.  students registered with the Disability Service,

While it can be assumed that these figures include all undergraduate mature students (under the ‘on age’ category), they do not include all students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds or with disabilities. They are a minimum estimate. It is unknown how many students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds enter TCD outside of TAP. It is also unknown how many students choose not to disclose their disability.

2.  It is also acknowledged that the figures shown within this document do not include the growing numbers of students who, while registered as Irish/EU students, have spend some or all of their previous educational experience abroad. As the children of those who immigrated to Ireland in the 1990s and 00s come to school leaving age this cohort will grow. These students may face specific difficulties that arise from their experiences of learning through a non-native language and within a different educational culture.

3.  There is cross over between the students within each cohort. There are students who belong to two or more of the relevant categories, and this leads to duplication. For example, out of the students registered with the Disability Service there are:

a.  145 students who entered as mature students, via either the mature students’ dispensation scheme or the CAO.

b.  36 students who entered via the TAP Foundation course.

c.  13 students who entered via the TAP Mature students Foundation course (crossing over between all three access initiatives).

Going into the future, a shared database could overcome the ambiguity that arises here.

4.  The areas recorded within these statistics have historically worked separately with no shared database or methods for collecting and categorising data, there are some discrepancies in terminology and modes of data collection.

a.  There was ambiguity surrounding the use of certain terminology (for example, ‘progression rate’). An agreed definition of important terms is given in this document and it is noted anywhere the statistics deviate from this definition.

5.  Whilst TCD calculates completion rates based on cohort (e.g. following a cohort through the four/five years of a degree programme), these statistics show figures on an annual basis unless otherwise stated. Due to database limitations it was not always possible to calculate completion based on cohort.

6.  Students enter TCD from the different cohorts thus:

a.  The majority of TAP students enter TCD via the TAP alternative admission routes (TAP foundation courses, HEAR, CDVEC courses). Some, however, enter TCD via the CAO and are referred to the TAP service (usually via the Tutorial Service).

b.  Students with Disabilities can enter TCD either via the disability access route or via the common points system. One’s admission route does not affect one’s right to register with the service upon acceptance of a place in TCD.

c.  Whilst ‘registered’ mature students entered TCD via the mature students’ dispensation scheme, a ‘mature student’ is one who is twenty three or older at the beginning of the calendar year in which they are admitted to TCD. Many mature students enter TCD via the common points system. The Mature Students’ Office has limited access to the data of students who enter via the common points system and so they are not included on all tables.

7.  Students from each cohort study at different levels.

a.  The TAP figure covers level eight undergraduates, students registered on TAP pre-entry foundation courses, (both in TCD and in the related CDVEC college courses).

b.  The Disability Service figure covers all levels of study in TCD,

c.  The mature student figure covers certificate/diploma courses and level eight undergraduates,

Terms

Level Eight Programme – This is an honours undergraduate degree programme. It is of at least four years in TCD, though it can be longer (e.g. medicine).

Mature Student: On age – A student who commenced an undergraduate programme in TCD via any admission route and was twenty three on, or before, January 1st in their year of admission.

Mature Student – Dispensation Scheme – A student who entered an undergraduate programme in TCD via the Mature Students’ Dispensation scheme.

Year on Year Increase – The annual numbers of new entrant students registering with the relevant service.

Table One - Student Numbers

TCD total / Disability / TAP / Mature – Dispensation Scheme / Mature on age*
No. of register students / 16747 / 818 / 639 / 391 / 1062
As % of total population / 100% / 4.9% / 3.8% / 2.3% / 6.3%
Cert/Dip# / 56 / 128 / 10 / 118
Undergrads (level 8) / 669 / 511 / 381 / 944
Postgrads (levels 9 and 10) / 93 / 0 / 0 / 0

* including 28 students on the Certificate in Contemporary Living and 24 students on the TAP programme. The Mature Students’ office only counts those who are studying on certificate/diploma or level 8 undergraduate programmes.

# Cert/Dip includes all courses in TCD below level 8 (e.g. Diploma in Deaf Studies, TAP foundation course, Certificate in Contemporary Living).

Total TCD data as per Student Records on 21/4/11, Disability as per Disability Annual Report 2010/11, TAP as advised by TAP 1/12/10, Mature as per MSO 09/2/11.

This table has five columns indicating how many students:

-  are currently in TCD and at which level they currently study,

-  are registered with the Disability Service, and their percentage of the total cohort,

-  are TAP students, and their percentage of the total cohort,

-  are undergraduate, mature students, and their percentage of the total cohort, and

-  entered via the Mature Students’ dispensation scheme, and their percentage of the total cohort. This column indicates those students who qualify as ‘mature students’ based on age and entry route to TCD (via the Mature Students’ Dispensation Scheme).

Figure 1 - Rise in the numbers of DS students from 08/09 to 10/11

Figure 2 - Rise in the numbers of TAP students from 08/09 to 10/11

Figure 3 - Fluctuation in numbers of Mature students from 08/09 to 10/11

Table Two - Undergraduate Outcomes:

TCD total / Disability / Level 8 TAP / Mature – Dispensation Scheme
Completion Rate / 94% / 85%# / 97.6% / 94%
Progression Rate / 90%** / 79%# / 90.7% / 84%

Completion Rate – All level eight final year students who successfully passed their final year assessments in 09/10.

Progression Rate – All level eight students, excluding final year students, who successfully passed their assessments and progressed onto the next year in 09/10. Except for: ** Refers to JF who completed the year successfully and qualified for the SF year.

Total TCD data as per Senior Lecturer report 09/10, Disability as calculated using information on DIS, December Dec 10, TAP as reported from TAP Database 1/12/10, Mature as per Mature Students’ Office 09/02/11,

This table shows progress rates for four distinct groups:

-  the total TCD undergraduate community,

-  those registered with the Disability Service,

-  those registered with TAP, on a level eight programme,

-  those who entered a level eight programme via the Mature Students’ Dispensation scheme.

Points of note:

-  While TCD bases the above rates on cohort this was not possible for the access programmes. The Disability Service database is under four years old and so cannot follow a single cohort over a four year period. Hence the Disability Service follows the definitions given at the beginning of the document.

-  # The Disability has a lower figure of completion and progression that can be attributable to the higher rate of students that go off books (often for medical reasons) or do medical repeats. 12 of the 16 (75%) final year students who did not complete in 0910 had deferred their exams by going off books, or had obtained a med cert.

Table Three – Faculty Breakdown, all levels

Total / AHSS and TSM / Eng, Maths and Sys Sci / Health Sciences / Other/Cross Faculty
Total / 16747 (100%) / 6411 (100%) / 3470(100%) / 3338 (100%) / 3528 (100%)
Disability / 818 (4.8%) / 482 (7.5%) / 163 (4.7%) / 159 (4.8%) / 14 (0.4%)
TAP / 639 / 298 (4.6%) / 77 (2.2%) / 140 (4.2%) / 124 (3.5%)
Mature – Dispensation Scheme / 391 / 243 (3.8%) / 54 (1.6%) / 70 (2.1%) / 24 (0.7%)
Mature - All / 1062 (6.3%) / 395 (6.2%) / 142 (4.1%) / 476 (14.3%) / 49 (1.4%)

Total as per student records 21/4/11, Disability as per DS Annual Report 2010/11, TAP as advised 1/12/10, Mature students as per MSO 9/2/11.Mature students figure includes 28 Certificate in Contemporary Living students.

Points of note:

The majority of other / Cross Faculty are post grad research students. In April 2011, 512 undergraduates fell within this category on the SIS system.

Table Four A - School Breakdown:

Course / Total all / Undergrad / Disability / TAP (% of UG) / Mature Dispensation Scheme (% of UG) / All Mature (% of UG)
School: History and Humanities / 420/ 230 / 29– 7% (23UG – 10%) / 16 (7%) / 32 (14%) / 35 (15%)
School:Business / 170 / 3 (2%) / 0 / 0 / 0
School: Religion and Ecumenics / 247 / 79 / 17 (7%)
(11UG – 14%) / 4 (5%) / 11 (14%) / 15 (19%)
School: Ling, Speech and Comms / 271 / 169 / 14 – 5% (13UG – 8%) / 4 (2%) / 17 (10%) / 30 (18%)
School: Drama, Film, Music / 219 / 149 / 18– 8%
(14UG – 9%) / 2 (1%) / 8 (5%) / 12 (8%)
School: Lang, Literature and Cultural (inc European Studies) / 310 / 225 / 12 – 5% (12UG – 5%) / 15 (7%) / 8 (4%) / 10 (4%)
School: Education / 1404 / 669 / 22 – 2%
(10 UG - 1%) / 34 (5%) / 0 / 32 (5%)
School: English / 306 / 170 / 16- 5%
(14UG – 8%) / 10 (1%) / 11 (6%) / 15 (9%)
School: Law / 564 / 378 / 30 – 5% (26UG – 7%) / 31 (8%) / 15 (4%) / 23 (6%)
School: Psychology / 368 / 126 / 29 – 8% (18UG – 14%) / 19 (15%) / 16 (13%) / 21 (17%)
School: Social Science and Philosophy / 404 / 184 / 19 - 5%
(13UG – 7%) / 12 (7%) / 13 (7%) / 14 (8%)
School: Social Work and Social Policy / 363 /224 / 26– 7% (20UG – 9%) / 23 (10%) / 46 (21%) / 65 (29%)
School: Chemistry / 206 / 91 / 8 – 4%
(7UG – 8%) / 1 (1%) / 0 / 0
School: Comp Science and Statistics / 904 / 386 / 33– 4% (21UG – 5%) / 8 (2%) / 7 (2%) / 41 (11%)
School: Genetics and Microbiology / 131 / 53 / 3UG (6%) / 2 (4%) / 0 / 3 (6%)
School: Physics / 114/0 / 3– 3% / 0 / 0 / 0
School: Maths / 143 / 112 / 13 – 9%(12UG (11%) / 5 (4%) / 2 (2%) / 6 (5%)
School: Engineering / 1072 / 621 / 32 – 3%
(27UG – 4%) / 10 (2%) / 9 (1%) / 9 (1%)
School: Natural Science / 239/28 / 6– 3% (1UG – 4%) / 0 / 0 / 0
School: Pharmacy / 420 / 268 / 14 – 3%
(12UG –4%) / 13 (5%) / 12 (4%) / 19 (7%)
School: Nursing and Midwifery / 1305 / 1004 / 75– 6% (69UG – 7%) / 57 (6%) / 0 / 294 (29%)
School: Medicine / 1731 / 1229 / 60– 3% (57UG – 5%) / 59 (5%) / 39 (3%) / 128 (10%)
School: Dentistry / 322 / 265 / 10– 3%
(9 UG – 3%) / 9 (3%) / 16 / 27 (11%)
TAP/Interdisciplinary Misc/ Erasmus-Year Abroad / 8 / 128 / 0 / 24

Table Four B – Multi-School Programme Breakdown:

Course / Total / Disability / TAP (%) / Mature Dispensation Scheme (%) / All Mature (%)
History and Politics / 106 / 11 (10%) / 5 (5%) / 7 (7%) / 8 (8%)
Sociology and Social Policy / 99 / 12(12%) / 12 (12%) / 17 (17%) / 21 (21%)
TSM / 1341 / 105 (8%) / 65 (5%) / 75 (6%) / 85 (6%)
BESS / 964 / 55 (6%) / 26 (3%) / 40 (4%) / 50 (5%)
B.Mus.Ed / 41 / 0 / 1 (2%) / 2 (5%) / 2 (5%)
Business and a language / 155 / 6 (4%) / 5 (3%) / 3 (2%) / 3 (2%)
Law and Business / 53 / 8 (15%) / 4 (8%) / 2 (4%) / 2 (4%)
Law and French / 52 / 1 (2%) / 4 (8%) / 0 / 0
Law and German / 54 / 2 (4%) / 0 / 0 / 0
Law and Politics / 45 / 2 (4%) / 2 (4%) / 2 (4%) / 2 (4%)
Business and IT / 55 / 5 (9%) / 1 (2%) / 0 / 0
Physics and Chemistry of Advanced Materials / 44 / 1 (2%) / 0 / 2 (5%) / 2 (5%)
Certificate in Contemporary Living / 45 / 45 (100%) / 0 / 0 / 28(62%)
Geography and Politics / 43 / 4 (9%) / 3 (7%) / 2 (5%) / 2 (5%)
Human Health and Disease / 47 / 5 (11%) / 2 (4%) / 3 (6%) / 4 (9%)
Common Entry Science / 1203 / 61 (5%) / 48 (4%) / 24 (2%) / 30 (2%)
Theoretical Physics / 116 / 7 (6%) / 3 (3%)
Chemistry and Molecular Modelling / 9 / 1 (11%) / 0 / 0 / 0

Total results as per SIS, 7/12/10 – 7/4/11, Disability as per DIS 4/4/11, TAP as per TAP 1/12/10, Mature as per MSO 9/2/11.