Under the Microscope/Prof William Reville: Who went to College in 2004? A National Survey of New Entrants to Higher Education, by P J O'Connell, D Clancy and S McCoy, has just been published by the Higher Education Authority.
This fascinating study, packed with interesting data, contains lots of good news, a fact media commentators are curiously reluctant to acknowledge. I can only deal with a few points from the study, but the full report can be downloaded from the HEA website at www.hea.ie.
First of all, participation rates in third-level education have soared in Ireland in recent decades. In 1980, only 20 per cent of 15 to 17-year-olds went on to third level; in 2004 that figure had jumped to 55 per cent, and to 60 per cent if you add in those who went to college in the UK.
Our performance in awarding third-level qualifications ranks very well by international standards. Ireland ranks second internationally in the rate we award third-level certificates and diplomas, eighth in the rate we award primary degrees and 13th in the rate we award advanced degrees.
Our third-level sector comprises the universities, institutes of technology (IT), colleges of education, and other colleges. There were 36,051 new entrants to third level in 2004. Of these, 17,042 entered university, 15,094 entered ITs, 1,619 entered colleges of education and 2,296 entered other colleges.
The gender breakdown, expressed (for brevity) as percentage of males was - university (42.3 per cent), IT (53 per cent), colleges of education (14 per cent), other colleges (48.3 per cent).
How are the entrants to the third-level sector distributed across the socio-economic groups (SEG)? The following categories of SEG are used in the report - employers and managers, higher professionals, lower professionals, non manual, manual skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled, own account workers, farmers, agricultural workers, other. I will quote examples in each SEG, where the composition is not obvious.
Employers and managers include general managers in large companies, personnel managers, restaurant/catering managers, computer systems managers, bank managers, and so on. Higher professionals include solicitors, lecturers (third level), medical practitioners, scientists, engineers, architects, and so on. Lower professionals include technicians, computer programmers, teachers (first and second level), nurses, journalists, etc.
Non-manual include receptionists, clerical officers, gardaí (sergeant and below), sales assistants, etc. Manual skilled include tradesmen, tailors, printers, taxi-drivers and so on. Semi-skilled include roofers, glaziers, gardeners, caretakers, etc. Unskilled include labourers, dockers, window cleaners, porters,etc. Own-account workers include various managers, professional athletes and various tradesmen.
For the purpose of this report the SEG of entrants to higher education is categorised under father's SEG mainly.
In the following list, the first number in each SEG is the percentage of new entrants from that category to third level in 2002 and the second figure is the percentage of all 15 to 17-year-olds in Ireland accounted for by 15 to 17-year-olds in that SEG - employers and managers (20.5, 17.6); higher professionals (9.8, 4.0); lower professionals (10.3, 8.8); non manual (7.9, 16.3); manual skilled (12.0, 10.2), semi-skilled (5.1, 7.2); unskilled (4.5, 4.6); own account workers (7.3, 6.3); farmers (11.3, 7.0); agricultural workers (0.3, 0.9); other (11, 17.1).
These SEG participation figures paint a healthy picture, although there is still room for improvement. Any SEG group whose proportion of total third-level entrants is less than its proportion of 15 to 17-year-olds in the general population is under represented at third level, and vice-versa. Consequently it is clear that the two SEGs, higher professional and farmers, are punching away above their weight and there is no room for improvement here. employers/managers, lower professionals, manual skilled and unskilled are doing reasonably well. There is room for improvement in the semi-skilled category, and, surprisingly, non-manual is faring particularly poorly. This needs urgent investigation.
While the overall situation regarding access and SEG is good, there are problem pockets around the country, particularly in the larger cities. This is well illustrated by Dublin city.
The following is a selection of Dublin postal districts, each followed by the percentage admission of the 15 to 17 age cohort to third level: Dublin 14 (Rathfarnham, Dundrum, Clonskeagh) 86.5 per cent; Dublin 18 (Foxrock, Sandyford) 83.2 per cent; Dublin 4 (Ballsbridge, Donnybrook) 69.9 per cent; Dublin 5 (Raheny, Artane) 47 per cent; Dublin 2 (South Inner City) 29.5 per cent; Dublin 1 (North Inner City 22 per cent; Dublin 10 (Ballyfermot) 11.7 per cent. Dublin County 70 per cent; Dublin City and County 50.8 per cent.
It is clear that overall average figures can hide pockets where severe problems exist. We know where the pockets are and they should be targeted by special initiatives. One such targeted initiative called Bridging the Gap operates out of UCC and I understand it is very successful (http://bridgingthegap.ucc.ie).
The overall access situation has dramatically improved since 1980. I am therefore puzzled by the reactions of the media pundits who comment on these reports. They home in on the remaining problems and give the overall impression that we have very poor access to third level among the less well off SEGs. This attitude is debilitating and depressing. Why not congratulate ourselves on our successes while redoubling our efforts to make further progress in specific problem areas? And why are certain other matters consistently ignored by these pundits, like the 60:40 imbalance in favour of female entry to the university sector and the 86:14 imbalance in favour of female entry to the Colleges of Education?
William Reville is associate professor of biochemistry and public awareness of science officer at UCC - http://understandingscience.ucc.ie