According to information obtained by The University Observer under the Freedom of Information Act, thousands of students have failed a module in UCD in 2016/17 alone. In the 2016/17 academic year, 3,873 students failed at least one module. This figure does not include students with a leave of absence or extenuating circumstances.
The figure does not include students who already paid to resit a module and were awarded a grade, 288 in semester one and 783 in semester two. Numbers are higher for students who only repeated exams and not a full module. 737 students received a grade for a repeat exam in the first semester, with this figure rising to 1567 in semester two.
Last year a total of 2096 students failed more than one module. 1763 failed more than one module in semester one and 333 failed multiple modules in semester two. The subjects that ranked the highest in terms of fails in 2016/17 include:
- Varied subjects including Mathematics and Statistics (1190 fails)
- Economics (892)
- Languages, Cultures and Linguistics (869)
- English, Film and Drama (841)
- History (594)
- Business (540)
- Medicine (480)
- Veterinary Medicine (346)
- Law (144)
To give context to the figures given, the Humanities department in UCD has the largest number of students participating in modules so failure rates are expected to be higher but Veterinary Medicine has a smaller batch of students with 346 module fails. Education had the lowest failure rate as only two students failed a module. Although some modules, 16 in total, have a failure rate of 100%, though only one or two students sit these subjects.
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UCD is currently reviewing their resit and repeat fees for resitting exams and retaking modules alongside UCDSU. A decision is expected to be announced regarding a possible change in resit and repeat fees in the coming semester. The current cost to resit a module is €230. UCD received at least three-quarters of a million euro in repeat and resit fees last year.
H/T: University Observer
