Introduction

This report quantifies and charts different pathways for entering higher education in Ireland. Recent decades have seen an expansion in the number of access routes to higher education. The longest established pathway originates with the leaving certificate obtained in post-primary education. Students may also progress through further education and training, supported by the Higher Education Links Scheme in 1996. We examine the post-leaving certificate as the primary, though not sole, pathway from further education and training. A third possible pathway is through apprenticeships, some of which are associated with articulated progression routes after completion. Most recently, tertiary degree programmes have been introduced as yet another pathway, structurally bridging offerings in further education and training and higher education through coordinated programmes. There is not yet sufficient longitudinal data to track the progression of tertiary degree students, though these will be included in future analyses. The current report analyses the transition pathways connecting post-primary education, post-leaving certificates, and apprenticeships with higher education degrees. Examining these pathways collectively has strategic value in enabling data-informed assessments of student access to higher education.

Not only can students traverse different pathways to higher education, but they can do so at different rates. Some students, for example, take a gap year between post-primary school and higher education. Others might opt for work experience after an apprenticeship before entering higher education. This diversity in timelines has the consequence that year-on-year reporting of transitions from one educational sector to another will always underestimate the total number of learners traversing each pathway. This report therefore shows cumulative, rather than annualised, data to provide the most comprehensive overview of the pathways to higher education. It is structured by a sequence of learner records from one sector to another and enumerates the average transition time between them. The next section provides further details on this sequence.

Method

Pathways Sequence

The pathways chart in the next section contains a sequence of records from First Record to Next Record (1) to Next Record (2) to Next Record (3). The chart begins with a learner’s post-primary record in First Record. It then depicts diverse pathways from post-primary school to other educational sectors, progressing from earlier records in Next Record (1) to later records in Next Record (2) and Next Record (3).

Because the pathways chart is a sequence of educational steps unfolding over multiple years, the most recent First Record included in this report is 2022/2023. This allows for at least two academic years in which a learner could progress onward from First Record. The most recent higher education enrolment records are for academic year 2024/2025. Note that learners with First Records from earlier years will have had more time to complete subsequent educational steps, and so their pathways will be more completely mapped.

Several types of records are categorised in First Record, Next Record (1), Next Record (2), Next Record (3). These are bolded and explained next.

Types of records

• Post-Primary End: This refers to leaving certificate exam candidates (inclusive of established, vocational, and applied leaving certificates) who were either in their final (6^th) year of post-primary education or repeating their leaving certificate. Data were sourced from the Department of Education and Youth for academic years 2016/2017 through 2022/2023.
  • Per Education Indicators for Ireland (pdf), 3.6%-6.1% of 5th year students do not sit a leaving certificate exam (see Table 2.11, indicator B.60). The percentages for 6th year students not sitting a leaving certificate exam would be equal to or lower than these numbers.
• PLC Completer: This refers to those who fully completed a post-leaving certificate (PLC) course. Data were sourced from SOLAS for registration years 2017 through 2024.
  • SOLAS defines full completion as a learner who completed 90% or more of a course and its requirements. Note that full completion does not guarantee certification.
  • To match how data are represented in the higher education records, PLC Completers were assigned an academic year of completion according to the finish date of their PLC course. July was used as a dividing month. For example, if a student finished their PLC course between August 2022 – July 2023, they would be classified as completing their course in 2022/2023. A student completing their course in August 2023 would be classified with the 2023/2024 academic year.
• Craft Appr Completer: This refers to those who have qualified with a National Craft Certificate. Data were sourced from the National Apprenticeship Office in SOLAS for registration years 2017 through 2025.
  • Consortia-led apprenticeships are not included in this analysis because these span through NFQ (National Framework of Qualifications) level 10, rather than those NFQ levels which would have the potential to lead to higher education enrolment. In addition, the source dataset does not contain the NFQ level designations needed to filter out higher level qualifications. Consortia-led apprenticeships at NFQ levels 5 and 6 can be examined in a future iteration of this report. Notably, however, of the total apprenticeship completions registered from 2017 or later, 76.9% were craft apprenticeship completions.
  • To match how data are represented in the higher education records, Craft Appr Completers were assigned an academic year of completion in the same manner as for PLC Completers.
• HE Enrolled: This refers to new undergraduate entrants into higher education (HE). Data were sourced from the HEA for academic years 2017/2018 through 2024/2025.
• HE Graduate: This refers to those who graduated from higher education (HE). Data were sourced from the HEA for academic years 2017/2018 (Class of 2018) through 2023/2024 (Class of 2024), the most recent available graduate records.
• Uncategorised: This refers to cases where there is not a next record that can be categorized into one of the above record types. With each Next Record (1/2/3), the number of “Uncategorised” cases becomes larger, reflecting the sum of uncategorised cases in the previous step plus new uncategorised cases. With enough steps, all records in First Record would eventually be “Uncategorised”, because students are only tracked through to completion of an undergraduate award in this report. It does not, for example, include progression to either employment or post-graduate studies.

Creating a single record per type of record

Some learners completed multiple courses within a record type (e.g., multiple PLC courses, multiple apprenticeships, or multiple higher education programmes) or enrolled in more than one higher education programme (e.g., a certificate and an honours degree). To avoid counting an individual multiple times per record type, which would distort the total number of individuals in each pathway, only one record per individual per record type was retained. The following rules were used to determine which record to retain:

• If multiple post-primary records were found for an individual, the most recent was retained.
• If a learner completed multiple PLC courses, their earliest record of completion was retained in order to capture any transitions to higher education that may have occurred after the earliest completion.
• If a learner completed multiple apprenticeships, their earliest record of completion was retained in order to capture any subsequent transitions to higher education following the earliest completion.
• If a learner enrolled in multiple higher education programmes, the record at the highest NFQ level was retained.
• If a learner graduated from multiple higher education programmes, the record at the highest NFQ level was retained.

Data linking

Individual records from different educational sectors were connected to one another using an individual’s PPSN. The coverage of valid PPSNs in each record type was very high (Post-Primary End: 98.1%; PLC Completer: 99.9%; Craft Appr Completer: 100%, HE Enrolled: 92.4%, HE Graduated: 92.8%).

All aggregated data is rounded to the nearest 5 for statistical disclosure control.

Charts and Analyses

Pathways from post-primary education are visualised and analysed using four graphs and a table:

1. A Pathways Chart showing detailed pathways from post-primary education.
2. A Cumulative Chart displaying the cumulative percentage of record types across steps: Next Record (1), Next Record (2), and Next Record (3).
3. A Split Pathways Chart enabling the comparison of pathways for males and females, and for students from DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) compared to Non-DEIS post-primary schools. All gender and DEIS school categorisations were sourced from data provided by the Department of Education and Youth.
4. A Split Cumulative Chart enabling the comparison of the cumulative percent of record types across steps for males and females, and for DEIS/Non-DEIS students.
5. A full table listing most of the data shown in the preceding charts.

Each chart is followed by sections highlighting Key Findings and answering FAQs.

Pathways Chart

The following chart shows learner pathways beginning with post-primary school records for the selected academic year(s). To see more details about each pathway, hover the mouse over the boxes corresponding to record types, as well as over the curves connecting records. Note that the metric “academic years (average) after previous record” refers to the interval between the last record and the current record, and not to the duration of a programme. The chart can be filtered according to the academic year corresponding to Post-Primary End records and by the field of study of PLC Completer. The latter filter enables an examination of how the number and percent of PLC Completers who continue to higher education differ by PLC field of study. To see data for PLC Completers across all fields of study rather than a specific field, deselect “NA” in the filter.

To best see the chart, expand it to full-screen view by clicking on the double box icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen (to the left of the “Share” icon).

Key Findings

• Of the 404,480 records from the end of Post-Primary education in academic years 2016/2017 through 2022/2023, the immediate next record for learners was:
  • Enrolment in a Higher Education programme for the majority of students (55.8%, 225,780), who progressed in an average of 1.2 academic years. This indicates that most learners progressed in the academic year following their last year in post-primary education.
  • Completion of a PLC course for 13.8% (55,965) of students, who did so in 1.3 academic years, on average.
  • Completion of a craft apprenticeship for 1.7% (6,685) of students, which took on average 5.6 years from the end of post-primary education.
  • Uncategorised into one of the three above categories for the remaining 27.7% (111,960) of students.
• Of the 55,965 PLC Completers in Next Record (1), 40.6% (22,710) subsequently enrolled in a higher education programme, on average 1.4 academic years later.
  • The majority of these students in higher education in Next Record (2) graduated from a higher education programme, as illustrated by the connection to He Graduate in Next Record (3).
    • Since progression to graduation may take several years, the most complete data comes from the earliest reported year. In the 2016/2017 Post-Primary End academic year, 63.1% of PLC Completers who then enrolled in Higher Education also graduated from a Higher Education programme. (Note: This percent is not shown in the chart, but is computed using data in the table at the end of this report.)
    • By comparison, 82.3% of those enrolled in Higher Education immediately following Post-Primary went on to graduate from a Higher Education Programme.
  • The PLC Completer field of study with the greatest percent of completers enrolling next in higher education was natural science, mathematics, and statistics (76.2%).
• Many of the students enrolled in a higher education programme in Next Record (1) and Next Record (2) graduated in Next Record (2) and Next Record (3). The most complete analysis of higher education completion can be found in the HEA Progression and Completion Report.

FAQs

Why are there so many “Uncategorised” records?

Uncategorised does not mean unknown. Rather, uncategorised indicates that records did not fall within the record types pertinent to this report. For example, PLC Completer includes only those who completed a PLC course, and not those who began but did not (yet) complete the course. Likewise, the Craft Appr Completer category only categorizes those who have completed, rather than started, an apprenticeship. Both sets of learners are examples of those who would be “Uncategorised” until they complete their respective programmes. Since the focus of this report is progression to higher education from other educational sectors, its focus is restricted to looking at progression from completion of a programme in another educational sector. Uncategorised records are also cumulative. The size of each Uncategorised bin is a combination of Uncategorised records from the previous Uncategorised bin as well as new Uncategorised records.

How can there be HE Graduates in Next Record (1) after Post-Primary End in First Record? Shouldn’t there first be a record of HE Enrolment?

This results from the rules used to retain a single record per record type for students. For students with multiple higher education records, the record at the highest NFQ was retained. It can be the case, for example, that a student’s highest NFQ enrolment was a level 8 degree and their highest NFQ graduation was a level 6 certificate. This can happen in cases where a student graduates from the lower NFQ programme but has not (yet) graduated from the higher NFQ programme.

Cumulative Chart

The chart below shows the percentage of learners who transitioned from Post-Primary End to other educational record types, cumulating across Next Record (1), (2), and (3) for a particular Post-Primary End Academic Year. Hovering over each line produces a pop-out window with the total number of Post-Primary End learners who have a particular educational record type, as well as which broad fields were studied within that record type. The cumulative chart can be filtered by the PLC Completer field of study. In combination with the pop-out window, this filter enables an inspection of how the field of study for PLC Completers compares to the fields they studied in other record types.

Note that earlier years will represent more complete cumulative trajectories than later years. For example, consider the significant HE Graduate decrease between 2019/2020 and 2020/2021. A student finishing their post-primary education in 2020/2021 might enrol in an honours bachelor degree programme (the most common degree type) in 2021/2022. If this student graduated in four years, their graduation year would be 2025/2026, for which data is not yet available. Likewise, trends in PLC Completer and Craft Appr Completer should be evaluated in light of the time it takes each student to complete that programme.

 

Key Findings

• The majority of post-primary students enrolled in a higher education programme at some point following post-primary education. This percent ranged from 59.1% following post-primary end year 2022/2023 to 63.7% following post-primary end year 2019/2020.
  • For all cohorts of post-primary students, the two largest broad fields in which students enrolled were 1) Business, administration, and law and 2) Arts and humanities.
• More than half of students from post-primary end years 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 subsequently graduated from a higher education programme. HE Graduate rates decreased in subsequent years, particularly beginning in 2019/2020, as there are fewer remaining years in which students could finish their programme.
  • The largest broad fields in which students graduated were the same as those for enrolment.
• Between 10.7% and 18.4% of post-primary students later completed a PLC course. The percentages are higher in earlier years when there is more time to record subsequent completion.
  • The PLC course field of study with the most completions was Health and welfare. This was followed, in differing order depending on the year, by 1) Services and 2) Arts and humanities.
  • The PLC course field of study most often associated with higher education enrolment was Natural science, mathematics, and statistics (67.4%–84.7%).
  • In 8 of the 11 fields of study, students studied the same field in both their PLC course and in higher education. In contrast, PLC Completers from both Generic programmes and Social sciences, journalism and information tended to study Arts and humanities. PLC Completers in Education tended to study in the broad field of Health and welfare in higher education. However, the specific programmes in each were more closely allied as learners often completed an Early Childcare and Education PLC course and were enrolled in a Childcare and Youth Services programme within Higher Education (not shown on graph).
• More than 3% of students from post-primary end years 2016/2017-2018/2019 completed a craft apprenticeship. The decline in more recent years can be attributed to the time it takes to complete an apprenticeship (generally four years).
  • The most common craft apprenticeship field of study was in the Electrical field.

FAQs

When I filter for a particular PLC Field of Study, why is PLC Completer always 100%? Do the percentages of the other records indicate they came after completing a PLC course?

Filtering for a particular PLC course Field of Study means that only learner records that are associated with that PLC course Field of Study are shown. That is why the PLC Completer is always 100% for a given field of study. The other records show the cumulative percent of learners in that record type. Since the percent is cumulative, it captures records both before and after the PLC Completer record. The Pathways Chart in the previous section is better suited for examining the order of records.

Why do all of the lines, and particularly the HE Graduate line, decrease over time?

Because these are cumulative records, there will be fewer records in more recent years compared to earlier years. The HE Graduate line shows a particularly pronounced drop off because the most common degree type, the undergraduate honours degree, typically takes four years to complete.

Split Pathways Chart

The following Split Chart presents two versions of the Pathways Chart from above, along with filters, to facilitate comparisons between males and females and between DEIS and Non-DEIS post-primary school students. To see more details about each pathway, hover the mouse over boxes corresponding to record types, as well as over the curves connecting records.

To best see the chart, expand it to full-screen view by clicking on the double box icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen (to the left of the “Share” icon).

 

Key Findings

Comparing Pathways of Females and Males (2016/2017-2022/2023):

• Following post-primary education, female students were more likely to next enrol in higher education (59.1%) compared to males (52.6%). Females progressed to higher education in 1.1 academic years, compared to 1.2 academic years for males.
• Female students were also more likely to next complete a PLC course (17.3%) following post-primary education compared to males (10.5%).
  • Of the PLC Completers in Next Record (1), females were less likely to next enrol in a higher education programme (39.2%) than males (42.8%).
  • Combined, 6.8% of female post-primary students first completed a PLC course and then enrolled in higher education. For males, this percent was 4.5%.
• Males were much more likely to complete a craft apprenticeship (3.2%) following post-primary education than females (<.01%).
• A greater percent of males (32.8%) were not captured (“Uncategorised”) by the preceding three record types from post-primary education compared to females (22.5%).

Comparing Pathways of Students from DEIS and Non-DEIS Schools (2016/2017-2022/2023):

• The number of students attending DEIS post-primary schools (88,730) was much smaller than the number attending Non-DEIS schools (315,750).
• A lower percent of students from DEIS post-primary schools next enrolled in higher education (36.1%) compared to students from Non-DEIS schools (61.4%). This transition took 1.2 academic years for DEIS students compared to 1.1 academic years for Non-DEIS students.
• Students from DEIS schools were more likely to next complete a PLC course (18.4%) than students from Non-DEIS schools (12.6%). Progression took the same amount of time, 1.3 academic years, for both groups.
  • Of the students who were PLC Completers in Next Record (1), DEIS students were less likely to next enrol in higher education (33.5%) compared to Non-DEIS students (43.4%).
  • Combined, 6.2% of post-primary students from a DEIS school first completed a PLC course and then enrolled in higher education. For Non-DEIS students, this percent was 5.5%.
• Students from DEIS schools were also more likely to complete a craft apprenticeship (2.1%) than students from Non-DEIS schools (1.5%). DEIS students completed their apprenticeship within 5.7 academic years from post-primary school, compared to 5.6 academic years for Non-DEIS students.
• A greater percent of DEIS school students were not captured (“Uncategorised”) by the preceding three record types (43%) compared to Non-DEIS students (23.4%).

Split Cumulative Chart

The following Split Cumulative Chart shows the Cumulative Chart from above, broken down by either gender or DEIS school status. The Variable Selector enables control of which breakdown is displayed. Results can also be filtered according to PLC Completer Field of Study. Hovering over each line produces a pop-out window with the total number of Post-Primary End learners who have a particular educational record type, as well as which broad fields were studied within that record type.

To best see the chart, expand it to full-screen view by clicking on the double box icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen (to the left of the “Share” icon).

Key Findings

Comparing Cumulative % of Record Types for Females and Males:

• Females enrolled in higher education at a higher cumulative rate (64.2%-68.5%) than did males (54.2%-59.4%).
  • The most common field of study for females was Arts and humanities, followed by Health and welfare. For males, the most common field of study was Business, administration, and law, followed by Engineering, manufacturing, and construction.
• Females also graduated from higher education programmes at a higher cumulative rate than males. Of the females from post-primary end year 2016/2017, 59.1% graduated from a higher education programme, compared to 46.3% of males.
  • Females most often completed their programme in the broad area of Health and Welfare. Males most often completed their programme in Business, administration, and law.
• Females were more likely to complete a PLC course (13.7%-22.6%) at some point following their post-primary schooling than males (7.9%-14.3%).
  • Females most often completed their PLC course in Health and welfare. Males most often completed their PLC course in Arts and humanities.
• Very few females (~0.1%) completed a craft apprenticeship after post-primary education. In contrast, up to 6.8% of males completed a craft apprenticeship at some point following their post-primary education.
  • Males completing an apprenticeship most commonly did so in the Electrical trade area.

Comparing Cumulative % of Record Types for DEIS and Non-DEIS students:

• Students from Non-DEIS post-primary schools were much more likely to enrol in a higher education programme (64.7%-68.9%) than students from DEIS post-primary schools (41.2%-44.5%).
  • Students from both types of schools were most likely to study Business, administration, and law, followed by Arts and humanities.
• Students from Non-DEIS schools also graduated from higher education programmes at a higher cumulative rate than students from DEIS schools. Of the Non-DEIS students from post-primary end year 2016/2017, 58.1% graduated from a higher education programme, compared to 30.8% of DEIS students.
  • Fields of study in which students most often graduated reflected those with highest enrolments.
• Students from DEIS schools were much more likely to complete a PLC course (14.5%–23.9%) compared to students from Non-DEIS schools (9.5%–17%).
  • Students from both types of schools were most likely to complete a PLC course in Services, Health and welfare, or in Arts and humanities.
• Students from DEIS schools were also more likely to complete a craft apprenticeship (up to 4.8%) compared to students from Non-DEIS schools (up to 3.2%).
  • Electrical was the most common trade group for both groups of students.

Table

The following table lists much of the data contained in the preceding charts. It can be filtered by Gender and DEIS school status.

To best see the table, expand it to full-screen view by clicking on the double box icon in the lower right-hand corner of the screen (to the left of the “Share” icon).

Conclusions

This report quantified multiple pathways to higher education from post-primary education. It foregrounded analyses of total transitions between sectors, rather than year-on-year transitions. Year-on-year reporting underreports the total number of learners (since many take more than one year to transition to another sector) and may lead to the incentivisation of quicker transitions rather than greater access. The cumulative approach in this report is useful for policy makers in determining which pathways, and for which learners, may need more attention to improve access for all learners.

The most common pathway to higher education is to enrol immediately following completion of post-primary education. Females and students from Non-DEIS schools were more likely to follow this pathway than males and DEIS students.

Alternatively, a large minority of students completed a PLC course in further education and training. More than 40% of these students subsequently enrolled in higher education. Further education and training therefore represents a strong pathway to higher education for many students. It should be noted, however, that not all higher education programmes admit applicants with credentials from further education and training, or may have limited quotas for entry. This means that access to higher education from further education and training is not equivalent to access via leaving certification points. The pathway from further education and training was more likely to be utilised by females and by DEIS post-primary students. PLC completers who entered into higher education did not graduate from higher education at the same rate as students entering directly from post-primary education.

A small minority of students, mostly male and more frequently from a DEIS school, completed a craft apprenticeship following post-primary education. These learners generally did not subsequently enrol in a higher education programme.

Further research is needed to better understand the educational outcome differences between genders and post-primary school types. It may be that students from different cohorts are equally likely to enter a PLC course or begin a craft apprenticeship, but graduate at different rates. However, if entry numbers parallel those for higher education, where female and Non-DEIS students are more likely to enrol, it may be that males and DEIS students are either more likely to enter educational sectors not captured in this report (e.g., other further education and training programmes) or discontinue education following post-primary schooling.