Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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74. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he has considered gathering demographic data on where students in universities and colleges went to secondary school and publishing same. [6883/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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For many school leavers, discussions on continuing education or training have focused on Leaving Certificate based CAO points and the race to secure a place in higher education. I have been working with partners across the sector to develop and promote a tertiary system which provides options for school leavers to continue their education in a manner and location that suits their interests and learning styles.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) and SOLAS hold the student and learner databases. Data is publicly available on the HEA website on the geographic and socioeconomic profile of our higher education student population.

The Education Indicators for Irelandreport which I published last week in collaboration with the Minister for Education reports on transition rates from post-primary to higher education for both DEIS and non-DEIS schools.

These indicators provide broad insight into trends concerning the flow of students from schools into higher education institutions and are used to evaluate and inform policy in the area.

Linkage of microdata at individual level to allow for tracking of student progression from second level to higher education is not currently available. Under the National Access Plan such data linking may take place, with appropriate safeguards to preserve anonymity, in order to provide evidence to support diversity and inclusion measures in tertiary education.

It is vital that any public reporting of transitions between school to tertiary education reflects the inherent value in all types of learning and the different challenges which students and learners need to meet to continue with their education.