6. International Graduates
International Graduates: This relates to non-Irish domiciled students who have completed their studies and graduated in Ireland.
This chapter details the outcomes of International graduates, with comparison to Irish-domiciled graduates. More detailed analyses are available in the dashboard.
Overview of International Graduate Population
Of the 72,148 graduates, 10,340 are International graduates (14.3%). Gender composition is similar to Irish-domiciled graduates, with 53.0% females and 46.9% males.
The most common programme types are Taught Masters (54.7%) and Undergraduate Honours Degrees (29.1%). A small proportion of International graduates completed PhDs (4.6%). As most International graduates pursue Taught Masters or Undergraduate Honours Degrees, the sections below focus on these two programme types. Data on other programme types are available in the dashboard.
One in 3 International graduates studied Business, Administration & Law (35.5%).
Programme Types by Gender
Overall, for International graduates, the most common fields of study are Business, Administration & Law (35.5%), ICTs (14.6%), and Health & Welfare (10.9%). For Irish-domiciled graduates, the most common fields of study are Business, Administration & Law (25.8%), Health & Welfare (16.4%), and Arts & Humanities (12.1%).
Nonetheless, this differs by gender.
For international females, the most common fields of study are Business, Administration & Law (36.0%), Health & Welfare (14.0%), and Arts & Humanities (11.9%).
For international males, the most common fields of study are Business, Administration & Law (34.9%), ICTs (21.7%), and Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction (14.1%).
Main Graduate Destination
Taught Masters
Nine months after graduation, 84.7% of International graduates are in employment. For Irish-domiciled graduates, this is 91.1%.
By field of study, largest employment differences between International and Irish-domiciled graduates are observed in Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction (82.8% of International in employment; 96.3% of Irish-domiciled in employment) and Health & Welfare (75.8% of International in employment; 91.4% of Irish-domiciled in employment). Nonetheless, note that International and Irish-domiciled graduates of the same field of study may pursue different sectors for employment.
While 9.3% of International graduates are unemployed nine months after graduation, only 3.3% of Irish-domiciled graduates are unemployed.
Unemployment is highest for International graduates in Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction (12.5%), followed by Health & Welfare (11.3%), and Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics (11.2%).
Undergraduate Honours Degree
Nearly two in three (63.3%) of International graduates are employed nine months after graduation, compared to 76.5% of Irish-domiciled graduates.
Nearly than 1 in 4 International graduates pursue further study (24.9%). For Irish-domiciled graduates, this is 17.9%.
While 8.5% of International graduates are unemployed nine months after graduation, 3.6% of Irish-domiciled graduates are unemployed.
Did you know?
In the StudentSurvey.ie National Report 2022:
42.5% of students believed that their institution emphasised quite a bit/ very much contact among students from different backgrounds (social, racial, ethnic, religious, age-groups etc.)
Employment Outcomes
This section relates only to graduates who are in employment nine months after graduation.
Taught Masters
Nine months after graduation, 71.3% of International graduates are working in Ireland, while 28.7% are working overseas. Most Irish-domiciled graduates work in Ireland (93.6%).
Over two-fifths of International graduates earn more than €35,000 per annum (45.7%). This is compared to 56% of Irish-domiciled graduates.
While International graduates most commonly source employment from Social Media / Professional Networking Sites (26.2%) and Recruitment Sites (23.7%), Irish-domiciled graduates are more likely to source employment from already working there (20.9%) and Recruitment Sites (19.8%). Only 13.9% of Irish-domiciled graduates source employment from Social Media / Professional Networking Sites.
A total of 17.2% of International graduates consider their course Irrelevant or Very Irrelevant to their job. For Irish-domiciled graduates, this is 12.2%.
Undergraduate Honours Degree
Of the International graduates in employment, 64.5% stay in Ireland for employment, while 35.5% are employed overseas. For Irish-domiciled graduates, 94% stay in Ireland for employment.
Over half of International graduates are on Permanent or Open-Ended Contracts (58.0%). A higher proportion of Irish-domiciled graduates are on Permanent or Open-Ended Contracts, at 63.9%.
While 5.9% of International graduates are employed on a graduate internship / placement, only 4.9% of Irish-domiciled graduates are on graduate internships or placements.
By relevance of course to job, 23.1% of International graduates consider their course Irrelevant or Very Irrelevant to their job. This is slightly higher than for Irish-domiciled graduates, at 20.5%.
Further Study Outcomes
This section relates only to graduates who are in further study nine months after graduation.
Taught Masters
Of the graduates who pursue further study, 56.2% are in further study in Ireland, and 38.6% are studying overseas. For Irish-domiciled graduates, 88.8% choose to pursue further study in Ireland.
Undergraduate Honours Degree
Of graduates pursuing further study, less than half pursue further study in Ireland (38.8%), while 61.2% are studying overseas. A much higher proportion of Irish-domiciled graduates stay in Ireland for further study (86.6%).
Taught Masters are the most common award sought in further study, with 64.6% of International graduates pursuing this, and 73.2% of Irish-domiciled graduates.
On the reasons for pursuing further study, 25.7% of International graduates pursue further study to change or improve career options. This is similar to 23.9% of Irish-domiciled graduates.
Study the same course again
The below chart illustrates the proportion of graduates who responded “Very Likely” or “Likely” in response to the question “How likely or unlikely is it that you would study the same course again?”. Any country of origin with less than 50% of graduates saying “Very Likely” or “Likely” are displayed in red. Any country above the 50% threshold is shown in green.
Looking for more information?
More detailed outcomes for the Class of 2021 graduates are available as interactive dashboards at the following links:
Next Chapter: Earnings Analysis
Note: filtering can result in a low number of graduates that fit specific criteria. Any criteria that result in less than five graduates being represented are excluded from the graphs in this report. Nonetheless, the Total provided will be inclusive of any excluded fields.