Health science drop-out shocker

The University’s Health Sciences department has been subject to chronic drop-out and failure rates in recent years, a Vision investigation can reveal.

A sample of students who began their degree in 2006-07 revealed that around half of Nursing – Adult Health BSc (Hons) students failed to complete over the duration of their studies, meant to finish in the summer of 2009.

Across the board, about one-third of students who were due to finish their three-year course in that academic year dropped out or failed. These disclosures come from a series of Freedom of Information requests and interviews conducted over the last four months.

A senior Financial Officer at the University conceded that if such high rates were seen in any other department, it would be a “very extreme, unprecedented event,” and the University’s teaching grant would be reviewed.

Over 12% of the drop-outs from the University of York’s courses – of which there are over 170 – from the last five years have been studying in the Health Science department.

Sue Ford, Deputy Head of the Department of Health Sciences, said: “we wouldn’t want to have all our students staying because actually that wouldn’t be appropriate… there are going to be people who drop off for justifiable reasons.”

She continued: “our attrition rate has dropped over recent years.” However, the gross-number of withdrawals rose from 2009 to 2010, and 55 students had left their course by the end of the second term, projecting a probable further rise this year.

In contrast, Hull York Medical School recorded between zero and two withdrawals by the same time in February.

Asked about the vast difference between the qualification of potential doctors and nurses at York, Ford said: “I couldn’t tell you why there is that difference but you can’t compare like for like, we’re actually doing quite well now in comparison to other Nursing schools.”

She added: “We recognise that attrition has been a problem in nursing courses across the whole country but that doesn’t excuse it.”

Funding for the Health Sciences department is done through various funding schemes. They receive a teaching contract which fluctuates around £6 million each year. The total NHS tuition fees rose to almost £400,000 last year in total from the University of York.

The national benchmark price for each nursing student as of 2011 is £7,843 per year of study. However, this figure excludes the various grants and resources the Health Science department receives.

The NHS recently revised the previous ‘block contracting’ system used to fund the training of nurses. Before 2007, allocated money would still flow into the department regardless of any drop-outs.

The drop-out rate was noted to be very bad in previous years and the department has since revised their welfare support and application processes.

Ford – who was appointed Deputy Head in 2007 – concluded, “we can only assume that some people, with some support could have stayed on. But I can’t answer for what happened before we started doing this work”.

Pro-Vice Chancellor for Students Jane Grenville explained her take on the matter: “there are two issues. One is that it is a very big department and they’re quite scattered, and, it’s a different entry requirement and a different sort of course.”

Concerning failures, she told Vision that often people who have been working in healthcare come in to get an academic qualification and “although they are very good nurses, they find the academic system challenging… the human stories behind it are sometimes very sorrowful.”

A Freedom of Information request showed though that the most noted, identifiable reason for drop-outs from Health Science courses at York is a discovery that it was a ‘wrong career choice’. This issue is being addressed with future applications.

York’s Health Science courses suffer from not having a large local catchment comparative to larger cities, even though they are a large Nursing school. The strain of commuting and travel expenses has been noted by the department.

Last year, the Health Sciences department was subject to a Periodic Review; something every department experiences every six years.

Ben Humphrys YUSU Academic Affairs Officer sat on the board which reviewed the department and noted that they were, “at times, very disorganised.”

They were commended on the significant drop the previous year, however the information obtained by Vision shows a rise since then.

He said, “A new degree structure recommended should deal with some of the problems… let’s be clear here, it’s still pretty bad.”

A sizable proportion of attrition comes from students struggling with their financial and social situations rather than direct programme-related factors.

Adele Bird, a spokesperson for the Royal College of Nursing which represents nurses nationwide, commented: “the issue of travel is a difficulty for Nursing students across Yorkshire. The geography of Yorkshire makes student placements a difficulty, whichever University you’re talking about.

“They are not unique with the high attrition rates – this has been a problem, which is improving, across the whole Yorkshire and Humber region. We speak to them every year and they’ve strategised well.”
Vision received some of the Freedom of Information requests necessary for this investigation extremely late. By law, the University must respond to requests within 20 working days.

However, one request dated April 4th was only finally received last Friday, June 24th, without due warning previously. The Information Commissioner is to investigate the breaking of Freedom of Information laws.

David Garner, University Press Officer said that management were “mystified” by the lateness. He added, “The University apologises for the delay… Such a delay is highly unusual. – the overwhelming majority of FoI requests to the University are dealt with within the statutory 20-day limit.”