Socio-Economic Analysis
The Statistics Unit are currently analysing the socio-economic profile of students in higher education in Ireland by institute, field of study and other characteristics. This is centered on deprivation index scores assigned to students based on their home address (Census small area data). The HEA plan to change the equity of access funding model to be based on deprivation index scores in the coming years. These data allow for social mobility analysis via graduate outcomes survey data and earnings data accessed in the CSO.

Earnings Analysis – HEA + Revenue Data
The Statistics Unit are working with Revenue, Department of Education & Skills and Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection data in the CSO to model graduate earnings up to 8 years after graduation. This is an extension of work already produced in collaboration with the CSO looking at graduate outcomes. An impact evaluation of the Springboard programme is also underway, analysing outcomes for Springboard graduates compared to non-Springboard groups with similar characteristics.

Data Dissemination
We are moving away from paper publications to mostly online data dissemination via tables for download and data visualisations. Some major analyses will still be published via reports on our website. We also hope to make our data available on the CSO Statbank in 2020. Software we employ for analysis and dissemination include Oracle BI, SAS, Stata, Arc GIS and Tableau. Data for download are usually provided in Excel and/or CSV format.

Data Access for External Researchers
We have provided access to a number of external researchers to make best use of rich higher education student data. Access to anonymised data on-site is only provided to established researchers upon agreement to focus on policy-relevant topics. Work at present is focussing on factors that influence student success in terms of completion, final grades and earnings and also value added at third level, by institute, in terms of graduate outcomes.