Department for the Economy publishes Higher Education Performance Indicator statistics.
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The Department for the Economy (DfE) has published Performance Indicators in Higher Education: Student Retention - Northern Ireland Analysis 2015/16.

Key findings:
- For all full-time first degree entrants to Northern Ireland Higher Education Institutions( HEIs), 7.7% of students were no longer in Higher Education (HE) in 2015/16, following entry in 2014/15; similar to the UK average of 7.4% (Table 1).
- Of all full-time first degree entrants to Northern Ireland HEIs in 2013/14 who took a year out in 2014/15, 76.7% did not return to HE in 2015/16. This figure was lower than the UK average of 78.8% (Table 5).
- In terms of projected learning outcomes for full-time first degree entrants, Northern Ireland HEIs were projected to perform better than the UK average of 80.8%, with 84.3% of full-time students starting first degree courses in 2014/15 expected to gain a degree (Table 6).
This statistical bulletin is available to download from the Department’s website.
A full set of tables, including further information on the Performance Indicators for Northern Ireland HEIs and all other publicly funded HEIs in the UK, is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and is available to download from the HESA website.
Notes to editors:
- The statistics presented in this bulletin are based on data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). HESA is the official agency for the collection of information on publicly funded Higher Education (HE) institutions in the UK.
- The HESA data presented in this bulletin relate to students at HE institutions in Northern Ireland and do not include HE students at Further Education (FE) colleges in Northern Ireland or GB, or at institutions in the Republic of Ireland.
- Higher Education students for the purpose of HESA's data collection are those students on courses for which the level of instruction is above that of level 3 of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) National Qualifications Framework (NQF) (for example, courses at the level of Certificate of HE and above).
- The academic year runs from 1st August to 31st July.
- Further notes and technical details are available in the bulletin and the related Contextual Information document on the Department’s website.
- For media enquiries, please contact DfE Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Outside office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07623 974383 and your call will be returned.