Higher Education Outcomes - Graduation Years 2010-2019

This chapter provides some background information on the numbers of graduates broken down by key analysis parameters. This information may be used as a reference when interpreting the findings of the previous chapters. Note that the data throughout this report includes only `young' graduates who are below an age threshold, based on their award type, when they graduate. Also, certain categories of students are excluded, and the data includes only a single graduation record per person per year, so that individuals are not double-counted in any of the outcomes analysis in any single year. (Full details are provided in the next Chapter on Background Notes). As a result, the number of graduates presented here may vary from other sources. 

Note that the data in this section includes those graduation records with missing or invalid PPSN. Since such records cannot be matched to outcomes, they are excluded from the previous chapters, but they are included in the present section to provide a more complete picture of trends in Ireland's higher education sector. 

Interactive tables on the Background Statistics are available in Tables HEO01, HEO02, HEO03, HEO04 and HEO14 via PxStat.

Numbers of Graduates

Graduate numbers for each graduation year are broken down by a range of parameters in Table 5.1. Female graduates outnumber males in each year, with women making up 55% of the total number of graduates in 2019.

Two-thirds of all graduations in 2019 were at NFQ level 8 (honour's degrees), and one-fifth graduated with a level 9 award (master's degrees and postgraduate qualifications). Level 7 degrees (ordinary degrees) made up 9% of all graduations in 2019, while 3% of graduations were at level 6 (certificates). Level 10 (doctoral degrees) made up just 1% of 2019 graduations. 

One important development over the period examined, was the introduction of a two-year master's degree programme for teacher training courses which replaced the one-year higher diploma prior to 2015. There was a reduction in graduation numbers for 2015 as a result, and fluctuations were created in some series which were related to these programmes.

Number of Graduates by Institution

Graduate numbers for each higher education institution are shown in Table 5.2 for graduation years 2010 to 2019. Most 'young' graduates, examined here, graduated from universities. In 2019, the largest number of graduates came from University College Dublin, followed by Trinity College Dublin and Technological University Dublin.

It is also apparent from the table that, from the 2017 graduation cohort, St Patrick's College and Mater Dei Institute merged with Dublin City University. Also, from the 2018 graduation cohort, Dublin Institute of Technology, IT Blanchardstown and IT Tallaght merged to form Technological University Dublin. In colleges where teacher training courses are commonly offered such as, Mary Immaculate College and St Patrick's College, there is a reduction in graduate numbers between 2014 and 2015 which reflect the introduction of a two-year Master's in Education for teacher training courses.

Number of Graduates by Field of Study

Graduate numbers for each of the ten fields of study from 2010 to 2019 are shown in Table 5.3. The number of 'Education' graduates more than halved in 2015, as a result of the introduction of the two-year master's degree for teacher training courses. This has also led to some discontinuities in the profile of education graduates over time, such as an increase in the number of level 9 awards after 2015.

The most common field of study in each year was 'Business, Administration & Law', which accounted for one-quarter of all graduations in 2019. This was followed by 'Arts & Humanities', which comprised 15% of all graduates in 2019.

The field of study with largest increase in graduate numbers between 2010 and 2019 was 'Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries & Veterinary' (increasing by 85%) though, this field had the smallest number of graduates overall. Graduates from 'Information & Communication Technologies' rose by 72% between 2010 and 2019. The number of graduations from 'Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction' fell by one-quarter from 4,700 in 2010 to 3,420 in 2016 but has since rebounded to 4,180 graduations in 2019. 

Graduates' Field of Study by Gender

Male and female graduates from 2019 are broken down by field of study in Table 5.4. There were almost four times more female graduates from 'Health & Welfare' compared to male graduates, with more than one in every five (21%) women graduating from this field compared to just 7% of men. Women were also almost three times more likely than men to study 'Education', which accounted for 9% of female graduates and only 4% of male graduates.

'Business, Administration and Law' was the largest field for both male and female graduates with 27% of men and 23% of women graduating from this field. The second most common field among male graduates was 'Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction'. There were more than three times as many male graduates compared to female graduates in the fields 'Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction' and 'Information & Communication Technologies'. 

Graduates' Field of Study by NFQ Level

NFQ level 8 qualifications comprised the largest cohort of graduations for each field of study. However, the prevalence of the other NFQ levels varied considerably by field of study. Over 35% of 'Education' graduations were at NFQ level 9, with the remainder almost entirely at level 8. Similarly, in 'Social Sciences, Journalism & Information', most graduations were at levels 8 and 9. There were 200 graduations at level 10 from 'Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics', and these accounted for 43% of all level 10 awards in 2019.

Other fields of study had more graduations at lower NFQ levels. Nearly half of all graduates from the 'Services' field received an award at level 6 or 7, and one-quarter of graduations from 'Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries & Veterinary' were at level 7. These fields had relatively few graduates at levels 9 and 10. 

Field of Study by Geographical Region

The proportions of 2019 graduates from each field of study are examined separately for each of the eight NUTS III statistical regions in Ireland, in Table 5.6. The region for each graduate is based on the county that they lived in prior to entering their higher education course.

Some fields of study were notably less popular among graduates from Dublin than among those from outside Dublin. For example, Dublin had the lowest proportion of graduates that studied 'Education', at only 5%, compared to 8% for graduates from outside Dublin. 'Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries & Veterinary' accounted for just 1% of Dublin graduates but 3% of graduates from outside Dublin. Dublin also had the lowest proportion of graduates from 'Health & Welfare' at 13%, compared to 15% for the remainder of the country.   

Conversely, there were fields which were more popular among graduates from Dublin than other parts of the country. 'Social Sciences, Journalism & Information' accounted for 11% of Dublin graduates, but only 5% of graduates from outside Dublin. Around 27% of Dublin graduates graduated from 'Business, Administration & Law' compared to 22% of graduates from the remainder of the country.

Non-Irish Graduates by Year

There was a total of 7,780 non-Irish 'young' graduates in 2019. This is more than double the number of non-Irish graduates in 2010. Nearly two-thirds of this increase is due to an increase in graduates from South Asia, East Asia and South-East Asia. These three regions combined made up 46% of graduates in 2019, up from 25% in 2010.

The largest group of non-Irish graduates in 2019 was 'Europe excluding Ireland and UK', which made up over one-quarter (27%) of the total. The UK provided a further 12%, with the remaining 61% of non-Irish graduates coming from outside Europe.

Missing PPSN

Rates of missing or invalid PPSN across several parameters are shown in Table 5.8. The highest rates of missing PPSN are in the non-Irish nationality category, in which over 70% do not have a PPSN in recent years. This can be explained by the fact that a PPSN is not necessarily required for non-Irish domiciled students to register in a higher education institution. Generally, a PPSN is only issued to such students if they seek employment in Ireland. Only 3% of Irish graduates had a missing PPSN in recent years.

The discrepancy between PPSN coverage between Irish and non-Irish graduates may explain such trends across other parameters. For instance, rates of missing PPSN have generally increased since 2010 but this coincides with a large increase in non-Irish graduates over this time, as shown above. 

Go to next Chapter: Background Notes