The Expert Group on Future Skills Needs (EGFSN) today published its annual report on the supply of skills to the Irish labour market. The report, ‘Monitoring Ireland’s Skills Supply: Trends in Education and Training Outputs’, examines the numbers of students entering and leaving the education/training system in Ireland.
The main findings were:
- Inflows to the education and training system continued to grow across almost all sectors of the education and training
system (except junior infants); new entrants to higher education rose by 5% between 2008 and 2009
- There were just over 200,000 awards made in 2009/2010 across all levels on the National Framework of Qualifications- a 1.5% rise on the preceding year.
- 86,200 people received awards in further education & training (major awards) and higher education
- 30% at level 8 (honours bachelor degree) which is almost the same as the previous year
- 19% were for postgraduate awards – a 5% increase on the previous year
- The largest increase was at level 5 where the number of FETAC (major) awards increased by 18%.
- Students are more likely than ever before to sit the Leaving Certificate examinations with a retention rate of 87.7%
- Promising signs for technology subjects at higher education:
- With the exception of construction, CAO level 8 acceptances increased for science and technology subjects which will impact positively on graduate output in the medium term
- The number of PhD graduates in science increased by 26% between 2008 and 2009
Where do Graduates Go?
The share of young (aged 25-34) third level graduates (NFQ 8 and above) in Ireland who were at work remained unchanged at 85% between quarter 4 2009 and quarter 4 2010. Those with Education qualifications (NFQ 8 and above) were most likely to be in employment (92% were at work); graduates from the services and engineering disciplines had the highest rate of unemployment (both at 11%). The participation of the adult population in lifelong learning was examined for the first
time in this year’s report.
The main findings were:
- Approximately 111,000 persons aged 25+ participated in lifelong learning (LLL) in quarter 4 2010, representing 4.5% of the adult population. Of these:
- 47% were in the economically inactive category
- 30% were in full-time employment
- 15% were in part-time employment
- 8% were unemployed
- Over the period quarter 4 2005 to quarter 4 2010, the number of LLL participants increased by 40% (or 32,000 learners)
Information provided by EGFSN
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