Higher Education Performance Indicator Statistics Published

Date published: 06 July 2017

The Department for the Economy has today published a statistical fact sheet: Performance Indicators (PIs) in Higher Education: Employment of Graduates Indicator – Northern Ireland Analysis 2015/16.

Statistical press release
Statistical press release

This indicator expresses the number of graduates who are working or studying (or both) as a percentage of graduates who are working or studying (or both) or seeking work. Benchmarks against which an institution’s value can be compared have been produced. For this indicator a value higher than the benchmark indicates that an institution is performing well.

Key points:

  • Of the full-time first degree graduates from Northern Ireland Higher Education Institutions (NI HEIs) in 2015/16 who were in work and/or study or seeking work, 94.4% (93.5% in 2014/15) were in work and/or study. The comparable figure for UK HEIs is 94.3% (93.9% in 2014/15).
  • At an institutional level, Stranmillis (100.0%) performed above its benchmark (98.2%), though not significantly so.
  • QUB (94.4%), St. Mary’s (95.9%) and UU (93.9%) all had values lower than their benchmarks (95.4%, 97.2% and 94.8%), again not significantly so.

This document is available on the DfE website.

A full set of tables, including further information on the PIs for NI HEIs and all other publicly funded HEIs in the UK, are published by the Higher Educations Statistics Agency (HESA) and are available to download from the HESA website.  

Notes to editors: 

  1. The statistics presented in this bulletin are based on data supplied 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.
  2. The HESA data presented in this bulletin relate to students at HE institutions in NI and do not include HE students at FE colleges in NI or GB, or at institutions in the Republic of Ireland.
  3. HE 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. Differences between institutions, such as subject mix or the qualifications on entry of their students, make comparisons between institutions unreliable. For this reason benchmarks against which an institution’s value can be compared have been produced. For this indicator a value higher than the benchmark indicates that an institution is performing well.
  5. The academic year runs from 1st August to 31st July.
  6. For media enquiries please contact DfE Press Office on 028 9052 9604. Out of office hours, please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07623 974383 and your call will be returned.
  7. Follow us on Twitter @Economy_NI

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