Enrolments and Qualifiers at NI Higher Education Institutions
Date published:
The Department for the Economy has today published two statistical bulletins.
The first bulletin provides information on the number of NI students enrolled at UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and the number of students enrolled at NI HEIs. The second bulletin provides information on Higher Education (HE) qualifications gained by students at NI HEIs and by NI domiciled students at UK HEIs.
Enrolments at NI HEIs Key Points:
- Enrolments at NI HEIs have increased by a net 14% (7,730) over the past decade, from 56,145 in 2014/15 to 63,875 in 2023/24. However, after rising by 25% between 2017/18 (54,020) and 2022/23 (67,515), they have fallen 5% over the past year, mainly accounted for by a large fall in credit-only enrolments at the Open University.
- Despite first degree enrolments increasing by 1%, from 40,810 in 2022/23 to 41,320 in 2023/24, overall undergraduate enrolments at NI HEIs fell by 3%. This was due mainly to a 47% decrease in ‘other undergraduate’ enrolments, notably credit-only, combined study courses at the Open University. Postgraduate enrolments also decreased, by 9%, from 22,385 to 20,280.
- Of the 63,875 students enrolled at NI HEIs in 2023/24, 70% were from NI, 5% from GB, 5% from the Republic of Ireland, less than 1% from other EU countries and a record high of one-fifth (20%) from non-EU countries. Of the 59,395 NI domiciled students enrolled at UK HEIs, over three-quarters (76%) were enrolled at NI HEIs.
- In 2023/24, half (50%) of students at NI HEIs were studying a Broad STEM subject, including over a quarter (26%) on Narrow STEM subjects. Similar proportions of females (49%) and males (51%) studied Broad STEM subjects, whereas males (37%) were over twice as likely as females (17%) to study Narrow STEM subjects.
Qualifiers at NI HEIs Key Points:
- The number of qualifiers from NI HEIs has increased by a net 59% over the past decade, up from 15,885 in 2014/15 to 25,200 in 2023/24, and 16% higher than in 2022/23 (21,685). This continues the upward trend from 19,900 in 2021/22.
- Postgraduate qualifications increased by 32%, from 9,930 in 2022/23 to 13,120 in 2023/24, attributable mainly to non-EU students. There were also increases in both first degree (from 10,060 to 10,245) and ‘other undergraduate’ awards (from 1,695 to 1,840).
- Over half (57%) of students gaining a qualification at NI HEIs were from NI, while 4% were from GB, 3% from RoI, less than 1% from other EU countries and a record 35% from non-EU countries. The proportion of non-EU qualifiers was higher than the comparable figure for 2022/23 (26%), largely due to the increase in postgraduate awards.
- Over two-fifths (42%) of students gaining qualifications from NI HEIs in 2023/24 did so in a Broad STEM subject, including a fifth (20%) in a Narrow STEM subject. Similar proportions of males (41%) and females (42%) qualified in a Broad STEM related subject, whereas males (28%) were twice as likely as females (14%) to gain their qualification in a Narrow STEM related subject.
The full publications, including associated tables and documents, are available on the DfE website at www.economy-ni.gov.uk/articles/higher-education-enrolments and at https://www.economy-ni.gov.uk/articles/higher-education-qualifications.
Notes to editors:
1. The statistics presented in these bulletins are based on data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the official agency for the collection of information on UK universities, which is now part of Jisc, the Designated Data Body for HE in England. HESA collects information from all publicly funded universities throughout Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and Higher Education (HE) providers in England registered with the Office for Students (OfS) in the Approved (fee cap) or Approved categories.
2. These bulletins are based on the second release of data from the newly developed HESA student data collection system delivered by their Data Futures transformation project.
3. The HESA data used to produce these bulletins relate to students at HE institutions in the UK and do not include HE students at Further Education (FE) colleges in NI or GB, or at institutions in the Republic of Ireland.
4. Higher Education students for the purpose of HESA's data collection are those 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).
5. The academic year runs from 1 August to 31 July.
6. Narrow STEM includes the following subject areas: Biological and sports sciences; Psychology; Physical sciences; Mathematical sciences; Engineering and technology; Computing; and Geography, earth and environmental studies (natural sciences).
7. Broad STEM includes all those in Narrow STEM along with the following: Medicine and dentistry; Subjects allied to medicine; Veterinary sciences; Agriculture, food and related studies; and Architecture, building and planning.
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