Further Education Activity Bulletin published

Date published: 7 December 2017

This statistical bulletin presents a range of analysis regarding enrolments (both regulated and non-regulated) in the Northern Ireland FE sector covering the academic years 2013/14 to 2016/17. This analysis covers the characteristics of those enrolling in FE colleges across a range of variables including gender, age, mode of attendance, provision area, level of study, subject area, areas of deprivation, funding streams, higher education and performance (retention, achievement and success rates).

Key points include:

• Total enrolments at FE colleges have decreased by 15.3%, from 180,825 in 2013/14 to 153,088 in 2016/17; this includes a 12.5% fall between 2014/15 (175,818) and 2015/16 (153,817).
• The proportion of regulated enrolments has increased from 78.4% in 2013/14 to 84% in 2016/17.
• Of the 128,629 regulated enrolments in 2016/17, nearly four-fifths (78.4%) were at ‘Level 2’ or above.
• Higher Education enrolments at FE colleges have decreased by 3.5% from 11,576 in 2013/14 to 11,175 in 2016/17.
• Fewer qualifications were awarded in FE colleges in 2016/17 (83,015) than in 2013/14 (90,851), a net fall of 8.6%.
• Over the period 2013/14 to 2016/17, while the retention rate in FE colleges has increased (89.1% to 90.2%); the achievement rate has decreased (87.1% to 85.9%); and the success rate hasn’t changed in net terms (77.6% to 77.5%).

This full statistical bulletin and other information is available to download on the DfE website.