Further education college statistics
These statistical releases are produced by the department using data collected from the further education (FE) colleges in Northern Ireland.
Further education sector activity
The statistics presented in this bulletin cover the characteristics of those enrolling in FE colleges and trends across a range of variables including sex, age, mode of attendance, provision area, level of study, subject area, areas of deprivation, funding streams, and performance (retention, achievement and success rates) over a five year period.
To view the statistical bulletins, please select the period required.
- Further education sector activity in Northern Ireland: 2019/20 to 2023/24
- Further education sector activity in Northern Ireland: 2018/19 to 2022/23
- Further education sector activity in Northern Ireland: 2017/18 to 2021/22
- Further education sector activity in Northern Ireland: 2016/17 to 2020/21
- Further education sector activity in Northern Ireland: 2015/16 to 2019/20
- Further Education Sector activity of students in Northern Ireland: 2014/15 to 2018/19 fact sheet
Further education activity in Northern Ireland: 2014/15 to 2018/19
From the academic year 2013/14 onwards, the term ‘‘Regulated’ (to align with the definition employed by the Office of Qualifications, Assessment and Examinations (OFQUAL)) will now be used in regard to this type of provision within FE. This cohort of FE provision is comparable with the previous figures for Professional and Technical.
Readership survey
An analysis of the FE activity readership survey conducted in September 2019 is available:
Additional outputs
Further education (including Essential Skills) ad hoc tables are produced in response to user requests and contain combinations of data that are not available in standard publications.
Further education equality tables have been produced in response to a request from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) for its ‘Measuring Equality in Northern Ireland’ monitoring framework.
All historical reports are available at the following links:
- Further education statistical fact sheets
- Further education sector activity in Northern Ireland (historical)
- Professional and technical enrolments in the Northern Ireland further education Sector
Quality report on further education activity
A report including information on different dimensions of quality (relevance, accuracy, timeliness and punctuality, accessibility and clarity, coherence and comparability) can be accessed below.