Males are more likely to drop out of college

Male students and people with lower Leaving Certificate points are prominent among more than 6,000 who drop out annually before they reach the second year of third-level courses.

While overall dropout rates from 26 colleges fell slightly to 15% in the latest figures from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), courses related to construction and some disciplines at certain colleges continue to have particularly high dropout rates.

More than one-in-five students who started a course in institutes of technology (IoTs) in 2013 did not begin second year. The 21% dropout figure compares to just 11% in universities and only 6% in teacher-training colleges.