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MOST IRISH UNIVERSITY graduates are employed in Dublin and Cork nine months after graduating.
A new survey has found that employment prospects for those with a higher education qualification continue to improve.
More than 18,000 graduates from the class of 2016 responded to the First Destinations Report survey, the findings of which have been published by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) today.
The study shows that 54% of those who graduated from an Irish university with a degree in 2016 are now employed in Ireland, 8% are employed overseas, 31% are in further studies, 3% are unavailable for work and under 5% are currently seeking employment. However, there are significant regional variations in where graduates are employed.
Of all those in employment, 42% are in the Dublin region and 17% in the southwest (Cork and Kerry). The regional disparity is highlighted by the fact that just 4% of all graduates find employment in the southeast; 3% in the border region and only 2% in the midlands.
The report’s authors note that while the study does not include graduates from Institutes of Technology, which they describe as “are significant players in regional development”, there is concern that more university graduates are not being employed in these regions.
In total, 18,299 (68%) level 8-10 graduates responded to the survey.
Pre-recession levels
The general trend in improved employment prospects for graduates has been holding up, and the proportion of graduates now finding work in Ireland is back at pre-recession levels.
Commenting on the report, Dr Graham Love, Chief Executive of the HEA, said: “The evidence continues to point to a higher education qualification meaning that you are less likely to be unemployed and tend to have a higher starting salary.
There is a challenge, however, for us to create more graduate employment opportunities outside of Dublin and Cork in order to ensure better regional development.
Dr Love said the planned development of Technological Universities will play a role in addressing this. The First Destinations study will be extended to cover Institutes of Technology from this year onwards.
The survey found that, nine months after graduation, 62% of people with an Honours Bachelor Degree are in employment, the same level as in 2015. Of this, 87% are working in Ireland.
Graduates going overseas to work dropped by two percentage points between 2015 (10%) and 2016 (8%). The UK is the most popular destination for graduates employed overseas, followed by the US.
Graduates seeking employment returned to 2014 levels (5%), compared to 4% in 2015.
Gender
In terms of gender, the same proportion of females and males are in employment (62%) and in further studies/training (31%).
The survey found that education graduates have the highest level of employment (85%) followed by Information and Communications Technology (ICT) graduates (81%). ICT has the highest proportion of graduates employed in Ireland at 76%, followed by Education (73%).
In terms of people with a Higher or Postgraduate Diploma 73% were employed in 2016, down from 78% in 2015. The authors said it should be noted that there was an overall drop in the number of graduates in this category, most likely due to the replacement of the Professional Diploma in Education with the Professional Master of Education.
Eight in 10 (81%) of graduates with Master’s degrees or Doctorates were employed nine months after graduation, up one percentage point from 2015 (80%).
The full report can be read on the HEA’s website.
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“Most university graduates employed in Ireland’s two biggest cities” shocker… Christ it must be a slow day lads and ladies
Strange as most seem to bad mouth the capital and its bigger cities.
I would have thought Tralee and Castlebar. Who would have guessed
Get used to continued high rent, and/or longer commutes.
@Paul Kelly:
Rent is higher and traffic worse in Ireland’s two biggest cities. Another shocker
@Nick Allen: to be fair commuting in Cork isn’t bad. There is traffic congestion around the city centre and tunnel but it’s nothing compared to most cities. I feel sorry for anyone commuting around Dublin. It’s poorly planned and the planners seem to one step behind in installing the correct infrastructure.
45-50% of Ireland’s gdp comes from dublin.that is unacceptable and it needs to be spread out amongst Ireland’s other cities.look how low Waterford is compare to the other cities.disgraceful
@dick dastardly: it really doesn’t need to be spread out.. Since the sixties actual planners have pointed out that Ireland is small enough to be a one city nation
@Chucky Arlaw: well then the planners have got it seriously wrong.they have followed the same principles of London compared to the rest of england.most eu capital cities are only 12-15%gdp of their own countries.its unhealthy and it’s not fair to other cities outside of Dublin
@dick dastardly: Yeah but Waterford is a complete shit hole anyway, more PhD’s wont change anything, but if you know anyone who can solve a; heroin epidemic, lazy gardai force and shitty city traffic then maybe Waterford would be promoted to being a dump rather than a shit hole.
@Chucky Arlaw: Probably is, but would need a brand new transport infrastructure to support it, something that would require 30+ years in planning alone. Do you really think we have what it takes to plan that far ahead? Lol!
@Alfred Pennyworth: that’s blasphemy Sahn
Limerick and Galway are third and fourth! Shocking stuff! You’d swear it was related to the size of the cities or something
A few days ago it was about the traffic on the M50 and today about how most graduates finish in the 2 major anybody in the journal put 2and2 together.
The piece is really a propaganda piece around the ‘importance’ and relevance of universities with regard to work and also a government body asserting it’s relevance.
I’m afraid the days of traditional universities are numbered and the types of work humans will do won’t need 4 years+ continuous learning to get in the door. Data analytics will play a bigger role in finding and deciding on potential talent in the medium term. In the short term, more and more ‘qualified’ people will not come from the traditional route of needing to be physically present in a uni and taking 4 years to get to the end point of having a new skill – the value of ‘maturing’ during your time in uni will become less and less important and these life skills will be learned in different ways (some won’t learn them at all in the same way some have grown up in a protected environment all of their lives and don’t have any resilience at all in life by the time they are 18.)
My 2 cents anyway ;)
@RogerRamjet: INB4 the Ad hominem grammar pedants…’It’s’ ‘its’, you would have learned that in uni etc.
That’s hugely suprising
The whole idea that Technological Universities will have any effect on this is folly.They will become yellow pack universities and will actually may lead to less effective as organisations as the extremely difficult mergers are forced through.I live in Waterford and after decades of looking for “true” University status WIT is now been forced into a fudge merger with ITCarlow.
Now that is a turn up for the books.
You don’t say! #shocking
Michael you utter creep.
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