Technological university graduates more likely to be in jobs than university graduates — research
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Technological universities (TU) tend to have higher employment rates than universities, according to new research looking at the graduating class of 2023.
More than 80% of third-level graduates are in employment nine months after graduation, a slight decrease when compared to the class of 2022 and the class of 2021. The findings are included in the latest Graduate Outcomes Survey conducted by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), a nationally representative annual survey carried out across the higher education sector.
Education graduates tend to have the highest employment rate at more than 90%, while arts and humanities graduates have the lowest rate, at 64.5%.
Between 82% and 87% of graduates with an undergraduate honours degree from TUs are in employment nine months after graduation. The figure stands at between 64% to 85% for universities.
Technological Universities generally have higher employment rates than universities as more of their students tend to go directly into employment rather than pursue further study.
Nine months after graduation, 91.7% of employed graduates are working in Ireland. Dublin is the most common county of employment (40.9%), followed by Cork (13.8%) and Galway (6.6%).
More students from the class of 2023 are in further study nine months after graduation than their peers in the class of 2022. This is highest amongst graduates from the arts and humanities (21%), natural sciences, mathematics and statistics graduates (17%).
This rate is the lowest for graduates from information and communication courses, at 5.2%.
Unemployment also increased for the class of 2023, from 4.4% to 6.5%. However, this compares to a rate of 8.1% for the class of 2020.
The National Monthly Unemployment rate when the graduates were surveyed in March was 4.3%. However, for people aged 15-24 years, the rate was 10.5%.
The Graduate Outcomes Survey also found that the number of graduates doing other activities such as travelling, volunteering or engaging in home duties has increased slightly from 2.3% for the class of 2022 to 2.5% for the class of 2023.
Of the Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates who were willing to share their salaries, 70.2% earned up to €39,999, with 29.7% earning more than €40,000. A further 28.0% of graduates were not willing to share how much they earned.
The Graduate Outcomes Survey Class of 2023 report shows that employment rates for our graduates are still at a very high level, according to Dr Alan Wall, HEA chief executive.
"This report adds to the graduate tracking evidence base and provides up-to-date data for all our stakeholders on early career outcomes for recent graduates.”