This publication, Further Education Outcomes 2010-2016, is the first report by the CSO on outcomes of the Further Education and Training sector (FET). Further Education covers education and training which occurs after post-primary level, but which is not part of the Higher Education system. The graduations included here are those which relate to major awards from QQI (Quality & Qualifications Ireland). FET courses are designated as levels 1 to 6 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ).
QQI is a State agency that sustains public confidence in the quality of education and training, promotes trust in the National Framework of Qualifications and drives a culture of continuous improvement by education and training providers. It was established on 6 November 2012 under the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012. Its functions include maintaining the NFQ; providing external quality assurance for tertiary educational and training institutions and English language schools and making awards and delegating authority to make awards.
Areas examined here include employment, re-enrolment in education and the industry sectors that graduates work in. The report also focuses on the outcomes of qualified apprentices over the period.
This report found that 62.2% of 2016 graduates were in substantial employment in the first year after graduation, compared to 46.6% of 2010 graduates.
The largest industries for employment for new graduates in 2016 were Wholesale & Retail Trade, Accommodation & Food Service Activities and Health & Welfare with more than 60% of graduates in substantial employment in the first year after graduation working in one of these industries.
Over 30% of those graduating in 2016 had enrolled in higher education and over 38% were re-enrolled in further education one year after graduation.
There were 1,220 apprentices qualified in 2016, down from 3,295 in 2010. More than half of apprentices qualified in 2010 were in employment two years after qualification and this rose to 79.5% for apprentices qualified in 2014. Over 35% of 2014 qualified apprentices were working in the Construction industry two years after qualification.
This report was developed in collaboration with QQI and is an example of the policy-relevant research projects the CSO are developing as part of the CSO’s leadership role of the Irish Statistical System. Our goal is to maximise the variety and volume of data available to provide high quality information to the Government, businesses and citizens.
Under the auspices of the Statistics Act 1993 [1] and in compliance with all relevant data protection legislation, the CSO is in a unique position to gather and link administrative data sources held by Government Departments and Agencies and evaluate their potential for statistical use.
This analysis as well as analysis on Higher Education Outcomes, was carried out using a statistical framework known as the 'Educational Longitudinal Database' (ELD) developed by the CSO. This framework is produced by matching datasets from the Education sector to other public sector datasets which describe graduate outcomes in subsequent years. For further details, see Background Notes and Methodology.
The National Data Infrastructure (NDI) plays an integral part in facilitating the CSO to develop new and improved statistical products for the benefit of the citizen and policymaker. The core concept of the NDI involves the collection, maintenance and storage, on all public sector data holdings, of the associated PPSN, Eircode and Unique Business Identifier (UBI, to be developed) whenever they are relevant to Public Sector Body transactions with customers. This supports the development of targeted policy interventions. What is needed to achieve this, in most cases, is collection of the PPSN and home Eircode in transactions with people and the UBI and business Eircode in transactions with businesses.
[1] http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1993/act/21/enacted/en/html
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