National priorities and key objectives of government for higher education are detailed in the System Performance Framework, by the Minister for Education and Skills.  A full overview of higher education system performance is available here.

Institutional and System Performance Data

A System Performance Framework dashboard seeks to provide an overview of the higher education system in Ireland, encompassing a wide range of metrics. These metrics are grouped under the System Performance Framework 2020 headings which are as follows:

• Objective 1 Providing a strong talent pipeline combining knowledge, skills & employability which responds effectively to the needs of our enterprise, public service and community sectors, both nationally and regionally, and maintains Irish leadership in Europe for skill availability
• Objective 2 Creating rich opportunities for national and international engagement which enhances the learning environment and delivers a strong bridge to enterprise and the wider community
• Objective 3 Excellent research, development and innovation that has relevance, growing engagement with external partners and impact for the economy and society and strengthens our standing to become an Innovation Leader in Europe.
• Objective 4 Significantly improves the equality of opportunity through Education and Training and recruits a student body that reflects the diversity and social mix of Ireland’s population
• Objective 5 Demonstrates consistent improvement in the quality of the learning environment with a close eye to international best practice through a strong focus on quality & academic excellence
• Objective 6 Demonstrates consistent improvement in governance, leadership and operational excellence.

A dashboard of indicators, relating to the objectives of the system performance framework can be viewed here.

The HEA produces annual institutional profiles and a new interactive dashboard of institutional profiles is currently in development.

International Data

Ireland participates in a number of internationally comparable data collection exercises. These are detailed here.

U-Multirank Dashboard

U-Multirank provides comparable data on participating institutions worldwide. Data are provided under 5 key areas – teaching and learning, research, knowledge transfer, international orientation, and regional engagement. These figures are updated annually, and can be viewed here. For an in-depth view of Irish institutions, please visit the dashboard at the U-Multirank link on the right hand side.

Eurostudent

The Eurostudent survey delivers a comprehensive view of student life in Ireland and in Europe, such as their social and economic conditions, accommodation type, migration background, income and study hours. Eurostudent 8 report is now available online (2023). More details on Eurostudent can be found here.

European Graduate Tracking Initiative

Ireland is part of a European Graduate Tracking Initiative which hopes to establish comparable graduate outcomes data across the EU member states.  Details of the initial stages of this work are available at the Eurograduate website.