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IRISH LEVEL THIRD students are twice as likely to be from wealthy backgrounds as they are from underprivileged, according to a new report from the Higher Education Authority.
The study, a socio-economic profile of Irish pupils, highlights the gap between the rich and the poor in Ireland when it comes to participation and progress in the higher education system.
It reveals that around 20% of students come from the richest parts of the country, compared to just 10% from the most disadvantaged.
Those contrasts are more pronounced at the universities of Dublin and Cork compared to regional institutions and ITs in other parts of the country.
Using a deprivation index score, the study reveals that Trinity College Dublin (36%), University College Dublin (35%), and the Royal College of Surgeons (33%) have the highest proportion of wealthy students among all tertiary institutions. level in the State.
But at 5%, these three universities have the lowest proportion of disadvantaged students.
Meanwhile, with 25% of its student population, Letterkenny IT has the highest concentration of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, compared to 10% in the entire country.
The figures are strongly influenced by geographical considerations and areas of influence.
Donegal, for example, comprises some of the most disadvantaged local electoral areas in the country, according to 2016 census data, while Dublin contains the wealthiest.
But the report also reveals stark contrasts within the system itself.
Students from wealthier backgrounds dominate high-level courses such as medicine and law. In contrast, only 4% of medical students come from the poorest areas of the country.
Meanwhile, disadvantaged students are better represented in child and youth care services, social work and sports-related courses.
Commenting on the report’s release, HEA Executive Director Dr Alan Wall said its findings show that more work needs to be done to improve socio-economic inclusion in Irish education.
“The higher education student population still does not reflect the diversity found in the rest of Ireland’s population,” he said.
“This detailed dataset provides policymakers and institutions with a comprehensive understanding of access patterns and disadvantages that will help them develop and implement specific approaches to promote equity of access.”
Deprivation index
Based on admissions figures for the 2018/19 academic year, the report uses the deprivation index (DIS) scores to profile the socio-economic makeup of Ireland’s higher education student population.
It is a measure of wealth or disadvantage in a given “small area” within the country using data from the 2016 census of each individual local electoral area.
Rather than focusing solely on income levels, the DIS takes into account a number of factors (dependency levels, employment rates, etc.) to arrive at a holistic profile of a given area.
HEA researchers then use these scores to analyze the socioeconomic profile of the student body by institution and course, which are then given individual DI scores.
Bar chart showing the socioeconomic breakdown for each university.
The lower the number, the greater the volume of students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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When all Irish tertiary institutions are taken together, the average score is 2.2.
IT Letterkenny (-5.1); Waterford IT (-2.3); IT Carlow (-2.3); and IT Tralee (-2) have the four lowest scores.
Trinidad (+5.7); RCSI (+5.7); and UCD (+5.6) obtained the highest score, indicating a higher proportion of students from well-off areas.
It is the second annual report of its kind and offers a more accurate view than last year’s release. In 2019, Trinity College declined to participate in the study, citing privacy concerns.
The researchers also believe it is a more accurate information gathering technique than the old Equal Access Survey (EAS), which relied on outdated information, for example, to ask students to identify their father’s occupation.
Simon Harris, Minister of Higher Education, said the study will be used to develop the government’s new National Access Plan for tertiary education.
“This is really valuable and important work,” he said.
“We need to ensure that our policies strengthen student participation in higher education, and for that we need accurate data and evidence.
“This is the second year of such data collection and I think it will be an excellent resource for us as we prepare our new National Access Plan. I want to thank the Higher Education Authority for their work on this report ”.
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