|
| | | Welcome to the latest edition of the HEA Statistics Newsletter. This has been a busy few months, with the release of a number of reports covering Progression and Completion, Socio-Economic Profiles, and Graduate Occupations and Sectors. A revised Graduate Outcomes Survey for 2026 was also agreed with stakeholders and the development of a new Student Records System (SRS 2.0) has continued via the SRS 2.0 project’s working groups. If you would like to follow our social media platforms, the links are also below. You can sign up to receive this newsletter directly to your inbox by following the link below. |
| | | | Progression and Completion Dashboard |
| Annual progression and completion statistics were published in April, expanding on the scope of the analysis in previous years’ reports. Data and Methodology The analysis looks at the progression of first year New Entrants to Higher Education using the HEA’s the Student Records System (SRS). Students are tracked across consecutive academic years (i.e. the year of entry and the following academic year) and are deemed to have progressed if they are present in the SRS data in the year following the year of entry. Similarly, the same New Entrants are tracked in the graduate records, and are deemed to have “completed” if they have gained an award as of latest year for which graduate data is available. Developments in 2025 report The 2025 report expands on the scope of the analyses in previous years reports. Previous years analyses looked at progression of new entrants within the same HEI. However, improvements in PPSN coverage means that the HEA can now better track progression across HEIs, and “transfer” students are reflected in the reporting of progression rates in the current report. There is also an expanded section on completion: in addition to the overall rates of completion of new entrants from their own institutions, there is also data on those who have received an award from a different institution, and also those that are still enrolled in Higher Education as of the most recent academic year. There is also an analysis of average number of years to completion for Higher Certificates, Ordinary Degrees and Honours Degrees. The key findings are: Progression: The overall rate of progression within HEIs for 2022/23 New Entrants is 87%. This pre-Covid average rate was 88% (2016/17 to 2018/19). While 87% of year 1 students progressed within their own institution, a further 2% (on average) were recorded as present in another institution in the following academic year. If these “transfer” students are considered, there is an overall retention/progression rate of 89% (2022/2023 New entrants).
Non-progression: The overall non-progression rate for 2022/23 new entrants is 11% (down from 13%, 2021/22 New Entrants). While the overall rate of non-progression (11%) and the Level 8 non-progression rate (9%) have returned to the pre-Covid levels, the Level 6 and 7 rates remain higher, at 23% and 25% respectively. In general, females continue to have lower rates of non-progression than males, while students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those in receipt of a student grant have higher rates of non-progression. Students entering on the basis of the Leaving Certificate, DARE or HEAR have non-progression rates of 10-11%. Students from other entry routes have slightly higher than average non-progression rates. There is an association between Leaving Certificate points and progression, with students entering with lower Leaving Certificate points having higher rates of non-progression than those entering with higher points.
Completion: 78% of new entrants from 2016/17 to 2018/19 have gained an award as of 2023. The highest rates of completion are in the field of Education, with 93% of new entrants on average from 2016/17 and 2018/19 gaining an award as of 2023 (this rises to 97% when those who did not progress to year 2 are excluded). The lowest rates of completion are in ICT, with an average completion rate of 64% for the same three years. Excluding those who did not progress to the following year, this rises to a 77% average completion rate for the same years. The average time to completion of Higher Certificates, Ordinary Degrees and Honours Degrees are 2.1, 3.2 and 3.9 years respectively, suggesting that the overwhelming majority complete the award in the expected time.
Please note that the data is presented as descriptive statistics only and as such are not intended to suggest relationships between variables much less infer causality. The data should be interpreted in light of previous analyses (for example the detailed analysis that accompanied last year’s release or the relevant chapter of our recent SUSI report). |
| | | | June saw the publication of an updated set of socio-economic profiles. The HEA uses Deprivation Index Scores (DIS) to assess the socio-economic profiles of higher education students in Ireland. A key objective of the National Access Plan 2022-2028 is that the higher education student population reflects the diversity of the wider population in Ireland, and data-led evidence in this area is crucial to policymakers to drive and implement change and to further promote accessibility of third-level education to all. The HEA began tracking and reporting on socio-economic profiles in 2017/2018. This latest set of socio-economic profiles relates to the academic cohort of Irish-domiciled students between 2021/22 and 2023/24. There are some slight changes in methodology since the last publication in 2020/2021: SUSI/Access data has been incorporated into the report. Previous iterations relied on Census 2016 data for Deprivation Index Scores, this report uses Census 2022. Mode of study in previous reports was limited to Full-time and Part-time students. This report will incorporate other methods of learning to reflect the changing landscape in higher education. National College of Ireland (NCI) data will also be included for the first time (data available for 2023/24 only). Apprenticeship data from the National Apprenticeship Office is also included in the report for the first time.
The key findings of the latest report include: Over the 2021/22 to 2023/24 period 9% of higher education students in Ireland were Disadvantaged. This was consistent across all the academic years in the period. 17% of students were Affluent, 27% were Marginally Below Average and 46% were Marginally Above Average. The average DIS score for the period 2021/22 to 2023/24 was 2.0. Postgraduate students tended to be more affluent (3.5) than Undergraduate students (1.7). 24% of affluent students were engaged in Postgraduate studies, while only 14% of disadvantaged students were engaged in Postgraduate studies. By detailed field of study, Childcare and Youth Services students were most disadvantaged (-1.8), while Economics students were the most affluent (6.1). Students from Dublin were most affluent (4.6), while students from Longford were most disadvantaged (-4.8).
|
| | | New Graduate Outcomes Survey in place for 2026 |
| Since 1982, Ireland has tracked graduate outcomes through the Graduate Outcomes Survey, carried out nine months post-graduation. The HEA reviewed the Graduate Outcomes Survey in 2024, based on the principles that graduate data should continue to: Reflect the higher education landscape, now and into the future. Graduate tracking should be future proofed to meet the needs of all stakeholders as the higher education system continues to evolve. Be of the highest quality. Ireland should continue to lead internationally by expanding on a reliable and accurate evidence base for policy makers, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), prospective students and other stakeholders. Be obtained as efficiently as possible. The methodology and operation of graduate surveying should be fit-for-purpose and efficient, enabling high value, well structured, timely and robust data to be collected. Be accessible and joined up. Stakeholders should be able to obtain data free and easy to understand in an accessible manner. The data itself should take account of the range of data sources within the higher education system. Support policy frameworks. Graduate survey data should support the Irish Higher Education System Performance Framework and other national policy frameworks.
There were two elements to the review: An independent review of the survey carried out on behalf of the HEA by an external contractor who consulted with relevant stakeholders. Data validity assessments which were carried out by the Central Statistics Office Ireland (CSO) and the HEA Statistics Unit. This latter part of the review (a) compared Graduate Outcomes Survey responses with administrative data held in the CSO’s Educational Longitudinal Database; while (b) further study responses in the Graduate Outcomes Survey were compared with the HEA Student Records System.
In terms of the survey instrument itself, there will be some updates to the 2026 survey. As such, the 2026 Graduate Outcomes Survey continues the 40-year tradition of graduate surveys in Ireland. |
| | | Graduate Outcomes report on occupations / sectors |
| A detailed report on the sectors of the economy that our graduates work in, along with their occupations, was published in June. The key findings are: Occupations: Over half (53%) of all graduates are in Professional Occupations. The next most common occupation type is Associate Professional and Technical Occupations at 14%. The next most common occupation is Administrative and Secretarial Occupations (7%),Sales and Customer Service Occupations (6%) and Managers, Directors and Senior Officials (5%). This means that 72% of all graduates enter the three high-skilled occupations (Professional Occupations, Associate Professional and Technical Occupations and Managers, Directors and Senior Officials) within nine months of graduation. This figure compares with 45% of the workforce nationally.
Sectors: Education and Human Health and Social Work Activities were the two most common sectors of employment each with14% of all graduates. This was followed by the Financial, Insurance and Real Estate Sector with12% of graduates and Industry and Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities each with 11% of graduates. A total of 8% of graduates worked in the Information and Communication sector. These Graduate Outcomes Survey figures can be compared with overall CSO national figures which show that the largest employment sectors were Human Health and Social Work (14%), followed by Industry (12%), and Wholesale and Retail Trade (12%).
|
| | | |
|
|
|
| |
|
