Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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521. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the analysis his Department carries out into drop-out rates among first year students in higher education; the details of drop-out rates among first year students in higher education in the academic years 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43614/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The information requested by the Deputy is not yet available to my Department. The HEA publishes reports on progression rates of first year students in HEA-funded institutions. The most recent publication covers first year progression rates from 2015/16 into 2016/17, and 2016/17 into 2017/18. The analysis covering 2017/18 into 2018/2019 and 2018/2019 into 2019/2020 is currently being drafted and will be published in the coming months.

Therefore the latest available non-progression rates (from 1st year to 2nd year) are:

2015/16 FT undergraduate new entrants: 14%

2016/17 FT undergraduate new entrants: 13%

The full report is available on the HEA's website at the following link:

My officials have spoken on a number of occasions with representatives from the higher education sector regarding any changes to the non-progression rate among students during the 2020/21 academic year. While precise figures on non-progression are not available at this time, the higher education institutions have indicated that during the course of the academic year there was no significant change either upwards or downwards in the non-progression rate compared to previous years.