HEA Statistics Newsletter Quarter 3 2022 . Key Facts and Figures 2021/22
- In 2021/22, there were 246,299 students (up 0.3% from 245,663 in 2020/21).
- Almost two-thirds were studying Honours Degrees (61.6%), and 11.3% were studying a Taught Masters. In 2020/21, these were 60.8%, and 10.8%, respectively.
- Ordinary Degrees are steadily declining in popularity (6.8% in 2021/22 and 7.3% in 2020/21, compared to 11.3% of 2015/16 students).
- The gender gap has continued to widen, with females accounting for 54.5% of the overall student population. This is up from 54.0% in 2020/21, and up from 51.4% in 2015/16.
- The most popular subject group studied is Business, Administration & Law (20.6%), followed by Health & Welfare (17.5%). In 2020/21, 22.3% studied Business, Administration & Law, and 17.3% studied Health & Welfare.
- Internationally domiciled students made up 12.4% of the student population. This is up from 10.3% in 2020/21.
- UCD is the largest higher education institution, with more than 29,000 students. This is followed closely by TU Dublin.
- The US is the most common country of origin for Internationally domiciled students (14.8%). This is followed by India, and China. In 2020/21, the most common country of origin was China (13.5%), followed by the UK, and India.
- Only 6.6% of new entrants were mature students. This is down from 7.0% in 2020/21. This has steadily declined from 10.9% in 2015/16.
- Nearly 3 in 4 new entrants responded to the Equal Access Survey. This is an improvement from the 68.1% response rate in 2020/21. Of the 2021/22 respondents, 17.8% reported a disability. In 2020/21, 18.1% reported a disability.
- In 2021/22, there were 88,638 graduates (up 8.8% from 81,461 in 2020/21).
Key facts and Figures: https://hea.ie/statistics/data-for-download-and-visualisations/key-facts-figures/
Institutional and System Profiles 2019/20: Access the 2019/20 Profiles here