Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 12 May 2026
183. Deputy Noel McCarthy asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of third-level applications received by the Central Applications Office, and the non-completion rate for the full duration of a course by applicants in each of the years from 2021 to 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34608/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Central Applications Office (CAO) is an autonomous private company and as such, is not under the remit of myself or my Department. Data on applications received by the CAO can be found on their website, on the Media and Statistics page, or requested directly from the CAO.
Data on progression and completion in higher education can be found on the HEA's website.
The HEA publishes data annually on student progression and completion, based on the HEA’s Student Record System (SRS). The latest Progression and Completion Report 2025, which looks at data from the academic years 2016/17 to 2022/23, was published by the HEA in April 2025.
New entrants are deemed as having completed or graduated if they are recorded as having gained an award between the year subsequent to entry and the most recent year for which graduation records are available. Given that courses at Level 6 to Level 8 have durations ranging from 2 to 5+ years and given that students may repeat or take breaks in their studies, the completion data for earlier years is deemed more relevant.
The most recent completion rates available are for the 2018/19 entry cohort, and it should be noted that this refers to students who have completed an award in the same institution by 2023. The non-completion rate remained consistent at 22% from the academic years 2016/17 to 2018/19.
|
|
2016/17 entrants |
2017/18 entrants |
2018/19 entrants |
|
Level 6 |
67% |
69% |
70% |
|
Level 7 |
63% |
62% |
62% |
|
Level 8 |
82% |
81% |
80% |
|
Grand Total |
78% |
78% |
78% |
The HEA’s 2026 Progression and Completion Report is due to be published shortly. The report will examine completion rates for the 2023/24 academic year, and it is expected that completion rates for the 2019/20 entrant cohort will be broadly in line with those of previous cohorts.
According to the OECD Tertiary Education Systems Dashboard, at the bachelor’s degree level or equivalent, Ireland is ranked eighth in completion rates of new-entrants, in 2023. In addition, according to the CSO, in 2022 Ireland had a higher rate of third level education in comparison to the EU-27 average across all age groupings.
Ireland consistently ranks above the EU and OECD average on educational attainment and completion rates at tertiary level.
