With the completion of their Foundation Year, we recognise the top students in each cohort. Of the 146 students who started their Foundation Year in October 2010 and completed it in Term II, a total of 21 students (including 15 females: 71% of all nominees) scored a ‘B+’ overall for their ten courses taken, and thus qualified for the Dean’s List; none scored straight ‘A’s. Table 1 provides a breakdown by College and gender.

These and unpublished data show that, compared with those graduating the previous term:

1. Management remains the most popular of the different Colleges, whilst Social Sciences is drawing level with Arts & Humanities;

2. Education and Law have picked up, to draw level with Science & Technology;

3. there has been a overall slump in the proportion of female students, compared with previous intakes;

students has remained more-or-less stable for the Colleges of Management and Social Sciences;

5. there has been an increase in the overall proportion of students on the Dean’s List for the College of Management, with the

opposite for the Colleges of Arts & Humanities and, more especially, Social Sciences; and

6. overall, there is an increasing preponderance of female students on the Dean’s List for the different Colleges.

The decrease in the proportion of female students is puzzling, especially given the fact that it is largely restricted to one College: one which is traditionally more attractive to females. The likelihood is that it is just a ‘random’ fluctuation, but it points to the need to monitor future patterns and identify appropriate actions to take if deemed necessary.

Perhaps inevitably, a number of students drop out from the FY programme. Table 2 gives a breakdown of the reasons given for doing so. The main one, where a response was obtained, is the demands of doing majors at more than one university.

Given the fact that there is clear evidence for differences in students’ performances between sessions, it is likely that some of the factors in Table 2 also apply for students who do not drop out of the programme. Thus, counseling of all students may help them to reconcile the conflicting demands on their time, if not to completely resolve them. This will have long-term benefits for them, which extend beyond the quality of their degree from UC to their ability to better cope with the demands of productive full-time employment.

I am grateful to Messrs. Song Sophoat and Sam Sophorn for their help in compiling and analyzing the data.

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The following 21 students started their Foundation Year in October 2010 and scored a ‘B+’ overall for their ten courses taken. This will be recorded in their academic transcripts. The students are to be congratulated on their hard work; it is hoped that this will encourage them to continue to do so, and other students to try harder in order to also earn this distinction in later terms.