ALMOST one-in-three students at a Dublin college dropped out before reaching second-year — shocking new figures reveal.

FIGURES from the Higher Education Authority showing spectacular third-level student dropout rates — up to 56% in one instance — must sound alarm bells.

Dr Tim Creedon, Director of the Institute of Technology Tallaght has expressed his sympathy to the friends and family of the two students who died in a house fire in Lorient, in France.