Further Education Outcomes - Graduation Year 2021

Statistician's Comment

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (04 March 2024) published Further Education Outcomes - Graduation Year 2021. This is an updated publication of the previous report by the CSO on the outcomes of the Further Education and Training sector (FET) for the 2010-2016 graduation years. Further Education covers education and training which occurs after post-primary level, but which is not part of the Higher Education system. The graduations included here are those which relate to major awards from QQI (Quality & Qualifications Ireland). FET courses are designated as Levels 1 to 6 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).

QQI is a State agency that sustains public confidence in the quality of education and training, promotes trust in the National Framework of Qualifications and drives a culture of continuous improvement by education and training providers. It was established on 6 November 2012 under the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012. Its functions include maintaining the NFQ; providing external quality assurance for tertiary educational and training institutions and English language schools and making awards and delegating authority to make awards. 

Areas examined here include employment, re-enrolment in education, the industry sectors that graduates work in, as well as the weekly median incomes they earn.

Commenting on the findings of the release, Anais Colibaba, Statistician in the Statistical Systems Coordination Unit, said: “This report measures the employment and education outcomes for further education learners who graduated between 2010 and 2021.

Education Outcomes

More than a third of the 2021 graduates enrolled in higher education and roughly 30% re-enrolled in further education courses one year after graduation. Information & Communication technologies graduates were more likely to opt for higher education one year after graduation, while Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries & Veterinary graduates were more likely to continue in further education one year later.

Employment Outcomes

Nearly three in four 2021 graduates were in employment in the first year after graduation, a 12% increase compared to the 2016 graduates. More than half of the 2021 graduates opted for employment in Wholesale & Retail Trade, Accommodation & Food Service Activities and Health & Welfare industries one year after graduation. It is noteworthy that new graduates are more likely to seek temporary and part-time jobs, especially those re-enrolling in education.

Incomes

The median weekly incomes varied with gender and employment sector. Males graduating in 2021 earned a median weekly income of €375, while female graduates earned €345 one year after graduation. Five years following graduation, 2016 graduates in both Information & Communication Technologies and Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction had the highest median incomes, earning €540 per week.“

Commenting on the report, Kieran Culhane, Senior Statistician, said: “This publication was produced using a statistical framework known as the 'Educational Longitudinal Database' (ELD) developed by the CSO. This framework is produced by matching datasets from the Education sector to other public sector datasets which describe learner outcomes in subsequent years. In this regard, the CSO treats all data with strict confidentiality and never discloses any data that could subsequently be associated with any person or business. We have compiled these new statistics using anonymised records and will only produce statistical results at an aggregate level. This means no individual can ever be identified from the data we publish.”