Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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302. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills The number of students in further and higher education that have dropped out during the academic year 2021-2022, by institution and year group, that is, first year, second year, third year and fourth year [4208/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The information requested by the Deputy is not available.

The key source of statistics on students in higher education is the HEA's student records system (SRS) which records enrolments as at March of every academic year, giving a single point of reference. Therefore data is not available on a national level on students who leave their programme during the course of the academic year. However representatives from the sector have stated that there was no significant difference in the number of deferrals or withdrawals during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to previous years.

The HEA publishes reports on progression, which track the proportion of students registered in first year who progress to second year. The latest report, which tracks progression from the 2016/17 academic year to the 2017/18 academic year, reports an overall progression rate of 87%. Analysis of the data, including a breakdown by institution, can be found on the HEA's website at the following link:

The HEA also publishes data on completion rates - i.e. the proportion of students who start a course in a given year and graduate within the institution they began in. The latest data published relates to students who entered higher education in 2010 and had graduated by the end of the 2017/18 academic year. A range of analyses, including analysis by institution, can be found on the HEA website: hea.ie/statistics/data-for-download-and-visualisations/progression-completion-data/completion-analysis-200809-200910-201011-entrants/.

Further Education and Training or FET, offers a wide variety of life-long education options including apprenticeships, traineeships, Post Leaving Cert (PLC) courses, community and adult education as well as core literacy and numeracy services. FET courses and programmes are provided through the Education and Training Board network as well as through other local providers including online through SOLAS’ eCollege. Courses may start at several different times during the year and may last 4 weeks to 9 months, ranging across the National Framework of Qualifications, and can be accessible during daytime or in the evenings.

The most recent report SOLAS published, using the Programme and Learner Support System (PLSS) database and the Educational Longitudinal Database (ELD) was to examine early leaver learner outcomes for those learners who were enrolled and exited their courses in 2017. This report is available at www.solas.ie/f/70398/x/72dc9680d4/early-leaver-outcomes-report.pdf.