Report highlights lack of student movement over border

Greater efforts to encourage more students to cross the Irish border for third-level study are expected after research highlighting a lack of movement in both directions, writes Katherine Donnelly for the Irish Independent.

The number of students from the Republic of Ireland enrolling in Northern Ireland in the United Kingdom for an undergraduate degree fell from 2,015 to 1,170 over the decade to 2020-21. The flow from Northern Ireland to the republic increased over the same period, from 755 to 1,255, but is still considered low. Students from both jurisdictions are more likely to go to England, Scotland or Wales for their studies than to cross the border.

The Economic and Social Research Institute report, Student Mobility in Ireland and Northern Ireland, was a partnership with the Shared Island Unit in the Department of the Taoiseach. Co-authored by Professor Emer Smyth and Dr Merike Dermody, it highlights the value of mobility for students themselves, for higher education institutions and for enhancing cross-border co-operation. It identifies barriers to movement, costs and how only a handful of students in Northern Ireland take the four A-levels needed to achieve maximum central applications office or CAO points.
Full report on the Irish Independent site