Student statistics

What statistics are available concerning the number of International Students in Ireland?

Substantial data is released on an annual basis by Irish Government departments, the Higher Education Authority and UNESCO. Language school enrolments, which are often short-term, are the most limited area for statistics but some data is collated by Fáilte Ireland (see above), though it should be noted that figures for adults may not be disaggregated from those for school pupils.

Details of the main datasets are given below.

Occasionally, additional ad hoc information accompanies a particular government report, proposal or parliamentary question. The May 2010, International Students in Higher Education in Ireland report collated available data at that time. Similarly, statistics on International Students were included as part of a September 2009 press release from the Department of Justice, Immigration and Law Reform announcing plans for an overhaul of the student immigration system. The data gave a limited breakdown of the nationality of the 34,557 non-EEA students registered with immigration authories in March 2009 and provided figures for Higher Education, Further Education and language schools. A parliamentary answer in January 2010 provided an updated snapshot at 29th October 2009 of 31,233 registered non-EEA students. Figures cited for 2008 as a whole gave a total of 44,942 such registrations during the year. (Full year data better reflects students attending Irish colleges for shorter durations, such as a single semester. However, for periods of study of less than 90 days, no registration with immigration authorities is required unless a student's nationality also requires them to obtain a student visa). » More

MAIN DATASETS

Higher Education Authority data

Each autumn, student statistics for Higher Education are provided for both the universities and institutes of technology. These reference student numbers for the preceding spring. The latest data (September 2011), covering 2010-11, includes two tables on the domiciliary of origin of full-time students, by gender, one for universities and one for IOTs. Data from preceding years is also available. It important to note that this data provides only a partial picture of Irish Higher Education since there are several significant providers that are neither universities nor institutes of technology and do not figure in the data.

Unesco's Global Education Digest

The 2011 version of this annual compilation can be downloaded in PDF form and is especially useful for making comparisons between countries. Because of the time required for collation of such extensive data, the information is for two years prior to the Digest's year of publication - i.e. 2009 data was published in the 2011 edition.

See tables 11 and 12, starting at page 190 for the most relevant data.

DES Participation in Education data

The richest data-source specific to Ireland, though the most complicated to access, is provided by DES Participation in Education data. For figures on international participation in Irish Higher Education see Domiciliary Origin of Students Enrolled in Full-time Third Level Institutions (Number) by Year, Domiciliary Origin and Type of Institution

A data extraction tool allows custom spreadsheets to be generated - e.g. a breakdown of full-time students, coming to study in the Republic of Ireland from a specific EU country by the type of Third Level Institution attended - and once you get the hang of the tool, there's a great deal you can do with the data. As with the UNESCO Digest, updates to this dataset come approximately two years after the period to which they relate.

For ease of access, the dataset below draws down basic data from this source.

Last Updated: January 2012