IT study programmes
– student assessment and drop-out rate

by Torben Pilegaard Jensen, Rikke Brown and Stig H. Jensen, March 2008

• Report only available in Danish (pdf)

Summary

This survey of IT student drop-out rates was launched by the Danish Ministry of Education. It covers the following business-oriented short-cycle higher education IT study programmes: the academy profession degrees in advanced computer studies, in multimedia design and in IT and electronics technology as well as the two medium-cycle graduate degrees in electrical engineering and IT engineering.

According to the »task force on higher-education IT study programmes for the future«, the background of the survey is the fact that the drop-out rate from the programmes must be reduced if we are to be able to meet future labour-market requirements. Demand is not expected to be distributed evenly with regard to all IT study programmes, as the labour market demands IT qualifications at an ever-higher level. Creating better opportunities for further education after short-cycle IT study programmes is therefore considered to be crucial. But in order for this to be implemented, more students must complete the IT study programmes on which they have embarked.

Conclusion and perspective

In some areas the excessive IT student drop-out rate has to do with the background characteristics of the students, e.g. the qualifying examination. A good many students do not find out whether they have chosen the right field of study until they have enrolled. As a result they will make new choices that may be appropriate for themselves as well as society. If we are to reduce the drop-out rate, we must take a look at the counselling offered before and after admission, at the organisation and content of the courses, including the types of learning used and the relations between students and teachers. But we also need to look at the general framework of the study programme, e.g. the study environment. When considering targeted measures against the drop-out rate it is essential to keep in mind the fact that the group of IT students enrolled in different IT study programmes is a highly diversified one. Surveys indicate that for each programme of study there may be reason to consider the following strategies of action:

• As many students want a more practical approach to learning it may be a good idea to consider how practical training can be included in the programmes and how a pseudo-practical organisation of the courses can be avoided. In this connection it is reasonable to incorporate practical training at a workplace and to involve teachers with practical experience. But as most students drop out early in the course, it is important to implement didactic methods at an early stage to ensure the possibility of a practical approach to learning.
• Many students drop out because of the lack of sufficient personal feed-back from their teachers along the way. Consequently, there is a great need for teachers to establish targeted, individual contacts with each student. In this connection small »home« classes, i.e. classes to which students have a permanent affiliation, are deemed to be an important opportunity to build such a relationship between teachers and students.
• Many students have no need for minor subjects such as economics and organisational theory, irrespective of the IT study programme they have enrolled in. On the other hand, relatively many students call for a multi-disciplinary strengthening of the IT core skills.
• As regards minor subjects, they should be incorporated in the context of the continuing and further education options that exist and/or may be established for graduates. This is essential in terms of the constantly changing qualification requirements of the labour market as well as the fact that many students want better further education options.
• A good many students have difficulties coping with core courses such as programming. This indicates the importance of early and targeted measures of additional/supplementary teaching offers for those who need them. Testing students with uncertain qualifications in the core courses of the different programmes shortly after admission may therefore be considered.
• As many students drop out because they find out they have chosen the wrong field of education, the quality of prior counselling should be improved. At the same time it may be considered whether admission interviews/study start interviews should be introduced on all IT study programmes.
• There are indications that the profiling of the multimedia design programme can be misleading and may attract some students who wrongly expect more priority to be given to creative design qualifications and less to IT courses than what the programme actually offers. Obviously, students with the wrong expectations of the programme are more likely to drop out. This should form part of the profiling strategy considerations of the educational institutions.
• It is important that the programmes offer a suitable social and physical framework for study workshops/study cafés.
• It is also important to organise the study processes, including in terms of the formation of groups and group work, in such a way as to involve any students who are marginalised. For example, students may be motivated to take different kinds of initiatives in relation to the non-academic social environment of the programme. But most likely the educational institutions must take the lead when it comes to creating a structural framework to promote a better social student network.
• IT study programme student counselling is only of limited importance in respect of the students who are at risk of dropping out for academic, personal or social reasons. This suggests that there may be a need to intensify the cooperation between the specialist teachers and the student counsellors, e.g. in the form of fixed procedures for teachers to refer those students to counselling who do not attend classes/fail to do assignments or who have academic problems.
• Students with personal problems need to be given the opportunity to seek neutral professional help, e.g. from a psychologist.

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