Leading the list of countries of origin for international students is the United States, followed by India and China.
Leading the list of countries of origin for international students is the United States, followed by India and China.
The number of international students attending Irish universities has surged to an all-time high, with over 35,000 students joining during the last academic year, comprising nearly one in seven of the total student population.
Resurgence of overseas students
Higher education authorities are hailing this achievement as a significant milestone, signifying a resurgence of overseas students in Irish universities, mirroring pre-pandemic levels, the Irish Times reported.
According to data released by the Higher Education Authority, this represents a year-on-year increase of just over 10 percent.
In 2022-2023, international students constituted 14 percent of the student body, up from 12 percent in the previous academic year.
Leading countries
Leading the list of countries of origin for international students is the United States, followed by India and China.
Additionally, the latest statistics revealed a nearly 1 percent increase in new entrants to higher education, with over 1,000 additional students enrolling in higher education courses using the Leaving Cert as their entry qualification compared to the previous year.
Enrollment trends
While the total number of students in all modes of study saw a two percent decrease in 2022-2023 compared to the previous academic year, full-time enrollments saw a slight dip from 200,035 in 2021-2022 to 198,970 in 2022-2023. However, full-time undergraduate enrollments remained stable.
Enrollments in Ph.D. programs experienced a notable five percent increase over the past year and an impressive 26 percent surge since 2016.
On the other hand, enrollments in taught master’s programs decreased by 5 percent, falling from 29,990 in 2021-2022 to 28,525 in 2022-2023.
The decline followed a five percent increase observed during the peak of the pandemic between 2020-2021 and 2021-2022.
Furthermore, the number of mature new entrants to higher education continues to dwindle, with nearly 600 fewer mature students enrolling in 2022-2023 compared to the previous year.
Dr. Vivienne Patterson, the HEA’s head of skills, engagement and statistics, suggested that a robust job market may be influencing mature individuals to opt for employment instead of returning to education.
However, she said that the overall number of undergraduate students registering each year continues to rise, with Level 8 honors bachelor’s degrees remaining the preferred educational route.
Gender disparities persist in higher education, with the gender gap widening. Females now constitute 55 percent of the overall student population, a notable increase from 52 percent in 2016-2017.
Popular subjects
The most popular subject group among students is business, administration and law, accounting for 20 percent of all enrollments, followed closely by health and welfare at 17 percent.
In the graduating class of 2022, there were 85,645 graduates, marking a three percent decrease from the class of 2021.
Of these graduates, more than two in five achieved an honors degree (40 percent), while almost one in five graduated with a taught master’s degree (23 percent). Remarkably, nearly one in four undergraduate honors degree graduates graduated with first-class honors (24 percent).
