Professor Ciar?n ? h?gartaigh:

I would add that there is increasing evidence that university education is becoming increasingly localised. Accommodation and the cost of living are part of that. Part of the challenge is that students are less likely to travel. Galway for example has the highest proportion of students travelling to Galway of any university but also the highest proportion of first-generation students. This is clearly significant in the North-South context. We find that increasingly students are staying at home. Accommodation is a critical issue there, as is the cost of transport, which is mentioned in the report, and the ease of transport. There is a good North-South corridor, with the Belfast to Dublin railway line, but there is not to the same extent in the north west and west coast corridors.