Trends in Completion 2016/2017-2024/2025

The focus of this chapter of the report is on completion with a particular focus on academic years 2016/2017-2019/2020.

As different courses can range from two to five plus years and given that students may repeat or take breaks in their studies, the completion data for earlier years is deemed more comprehensive. For example, 77.9% of 2016/17 new entrants have gained an award as of graduation year 2024. By contrast, only 1% of 2022/2023 new entrants have received an award as of 2024.

Completion:

Completion A new entrant who has gained an award to date, in the same HEI they entered at NFQ Level 6/7/8 as per the SRS return. For example, a new entrant to MU in 2018/2019 who has gained an award in MU between 2019/2020 and the present (2024/2025)

Trends in Completion 2016/2017-2024/2025

Trends in Completion 2016/2017-2024/2025 -NFQ Level

  • New entrants studying courses at NFQ Level 8 tend to have the highest completion rate, at 81.0% (average for 2016/17 – 2019/20 new entrants).
  • New entrants studying courses at NFQ Level 7 tend to have the lowest completion rate, at 62.0% (average for 2016/17 – 2019/20 new entrants).

    • Trends in Completion 2016/2017-2024/2025 -HEI

  • The HEIs with the highest completion rate across the period analysed were Mary Immaculate College, Limerick at 91.5%, Trinity College Dublin at 89.0% and Dublin City University at 86.6%.
  • The HEIs with the lowest completion rate across the period analysed were Technological University Dublin at 68.7%, Atlantic Technological University at 69% and Dundalk IT at 69.2%.

    • Trends in Completion 2016/2017-2024/2025 -Field of Study

  • Education was the field of study with the highest completion rate at 92.6%.
  • Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) was the discipline with the lowest completion rate at 64.4%.

    • Trends in Completion 2016/2017-2024/2025 -Gender

  • Female completion rate (83.4%) was consistently higher than male completion (72.3%) over this period.
  • The gap between female and male completion rates overall was 11 percentage points.

Go to next section: Appendix 1 - Non-progression- Interactive dashboard