by Kathy Masterson
kathy@limerickpost.ie
MORE than two thirds of University of Limerick students have experimented with drugs, according to the results of a nationwide student survey compiled by Campus.ie.
The results of the sample of UL students surveyed found that only 32 per cent had never tried drugs, well below the national average of 58 per cent.
The National Student Survey also found that almost one fifth (19 per cent) of students at the university are not sexually active.
Of those who said they were sexually active, a quarter said they had one sexual partner, while 31 per cent listed their number of partners as between two and five.
Regarding sexual health, only 16 per cent of the students who were sexually active had had an STI test, although only 0.5 per cent said they did not use any form of contraception – 2.5 per cent lower than the national average.
The most popular forms of contraception were condoms (50 per cent), the contraceptive pill (28 per cent) and the contraceptive implant (two per cent).
The number of UL students who identified their sexual orientation as something other than heterosexual was five per cent lower than the national average found in the survey of 89 per cent.
A total of 40 per cent of students at the university said they had either dropped out of their course or had considered doing so at some point.
The most common reasons given for dropping out or considering leaving university were not liking the course (20 per cent), stress (eight per cent), financial reasons (five per cent) and mental health (four per cent).
In terms of diversity, five per cent of the UL students who participated in the study came from outside Ireland, with the UK, Germany and the US ranking as the most common countries of origin.
Almost half of the students surveyed lived in student residences, with 28 per cent availing of a grant and just 40 per cent relying on their parents for financial support.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the survey also found that almost 60 per cent of the UL students surveyed did the majority of their grocery shopping at budget supermarkets such as Lidl and Aldi.
