Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter.

A new report published today, School Completers - What Next?, shows that over 50% of students who were enrolled in the final year of senior cycle in Department of Education and Skills-supported post-primary schools in 2010 went directly to higher education. This is the first in a series of reports by the Department that tracks pupils one year after they leave school. This evidence-based research has been compiled using data matching of administrative data.

The Department also produces reports on projections of enrolment at third level and the retention rates of pupils in second level schools. Data showing where school leavers went having completed the leaving certificate examination in 2010 are contained in School Completers - What Next? It found that of the 54,824 school leavers that year, 44% went on to study a higher education course in a HEA funded institution; 20% enrolled in PLC courses; 5% repeated the leaving certificate examination; an estimated 4% enrolled in colleges abroad, predominantly in the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, and just over 2% were estimated to have enrolled in a non-HEA funded institution. The report also shows that 66% of students who attended fee-charging secondary schools as compared to 47% from the non-fee charging secondary school sector progressed directly to higher education. Some 42% of students from comprehensive schools, 38% from community schools and 34% from the vocational sector progressed directly to higher education. In terms of students attending DEIS schools, some 24% as compared to 49% from non-DEIS status schools went on to higher education. While over 57% of pupils attending all-Irish schools progressed directly to higher education courses, it should be noted that this refers to a small sample size - 826 of 1,437 pupils.

In the 2011-12 academic year there were over 163,000 full-time students in publicly funded third level institutions. Demand for full-time education has risen substantially in recent years, with full-time enrolments rising from just under 116,000 in 2000-01. Owing to the underlying demographics, demand is projected to increase continuously up to 2026, with a projected level of demand for full-time places of over 192,000 by 2020-21 and 209,000 by 2026-27.

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