Department for the Economy publishes Higher Education Performance Indicator Statistics
Date published:
The Department for the Economy has today published a statistical fact sheet: Performance Indicators (PIs) in Higher Education: Student Retention – Northern Ireland Analysis 2016/17.
Key points:
- For all full-time first degree entrants to Northern Ireland Higher Education Institutions (NI HEIs), 5.1% of students were no longer in Higher Education (HE) in 2016/17, following entry in 2015/16; lower than the UK average of 7.5% (Table 1).
- Of all full-time first degree entrants to NI HEIs in 2014/15 who took a year out in 2015/16, 83.7% did not return to HE in 2016/17. This figure was higher than the UK average of 79.7% (Table 5).
- In terms of projected learning outcomes for full-time first degree entrants, NI HEIs were projected to perform above the UK average of 80.1%, with 84.4% of full-time students starting first degree courses in 2015/16 expected to gain a degree (Table 6).
This document is available to download from the Department’s website
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)
Notes to editors:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 fact sheet 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 07623974383and your call will be returned.