Mr. Frank Jones:

Unfortunately we do not have the full picture. It was agreed several years ago that the Higher Education Authority, HEA would conduct a study to see where STEM graduates were going. That has not happened yet. For the progression for those with STEM qualifications leaving further and higher education it is obvious there is more quality employment in the private sector right now. As I said earlier, a lot of graduates still remain in the sector despite the challenges of short fixed-term contracts and precarious employment. They stay because of the love of the sport. That is not good enough. That was the theme of our submission; that it is not good enough that people are staying at their own cost and we hope this changes on foot of the work of this committee and of various other projects and pieces of work we are engaged in. It is not as bad as it would be, were people just looking after themselves and their short-term interests and getting the first permanent contract they could get. I know the private sector is coming in and trying to recruit a lot, all and sundry. They come to teacher training colleges to recruit. However we are still managing to maintain a level of graduates going into academia despite these challenges.