Danish dropouts blame teachers

Four out of ten students who started at Copenhagen University in 2000 dropped out or changed course because of poor teaching, a survey carried out by the university has found.

A similar percentage cited poor contact with "arrogant" lecturers.

Some 24 per cent of the 5,513 students surveyed dropped out after the first year and 42 per cent had left after two years. Teaching quality was deemed "bad" by 38 per cent and 41 per cent had poor contact with the lecturers.

Half of the students dropped out because the studies failed to meet their expectations, 13 per cent because the courses were too challenging and 22 per cent because of poor social connections with other students. Eight out of ten dropouts were sure they had chosen the right course at the outset.

Jakob Lange, the university's head of studies, believed students were not properly prepared for university study. "The transition from sixth-form college to university is quite sudden," he said.

Sixty per cent of the dropouts are taking other courses.