Department for the Economy publishes Higher Education Performance Indicator Statistics

The Department has today published a statistical fact sheet: Performance Indicators in Higher Education: Student Retention – Northern Ireland Analysis 2018/19

Department for the Economy publishes Higher Education Statistics

Key points

• For all full-time first degree entrants to Northern Ireland Higher Education Institutions (NI HEIs), 7.1 per cent of students were no longer in HE in 2018/19, following entry in 2017/18; better than the UK average of 8.3 per cent (Table 1).
• Of all full-time first degree entrants to NI HEIs in 2016/17 who took a year out in 2017/18, 75.9 per cent did not return to HE in 2018/19. This figure was better than the UK average of 79.9 per cent (Table 5).
• The non-continuation rate for part-time first degree entrants to NI HEIs was similar to the UK average (33.0 per cent ), with 32.5 per cent of such students no longer in HE in 2018/19, following entry in 2016/17 (Table 4).
• In terms of projected learning outcomes for full-time first degree entrants, NI HEIs were projected to perform better than the UK average of 79.4 per cent , with 83.2 per cent of full-time students starting first degree courses in 2017/18 expected to gain a degree (Table 6).

This document is available to download at: Higher education performance indicators 

A full set of tables, including further information on the Performance Indicators for NI HEIs and all other publicly funded HEIs in the UK, is published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) and is available to download at: UK Performance Indicators page of the Higher Education Statistics Agency website.

Notes to editors: 

1. The statistics presented in this fact sheet 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 HE institutions in the UK.
2. The HESA data presented in this fact sheet relate to students at NI HEIs and do not include HE students at Further Education (FE) colleges in NI or GB, or at institutions in the Republic of Ireland.
3. 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).
4. The academic year runs from 1 August to 31 July.
5. Further notes and technical details are available in the fact sheet and the related Contextual Information document on the Department’s website.
6. For further information, please contact the DfE Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer on 028 9037 8110.
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