Northern Ireland does not suffer from a higher-than-average brain drain of third-level students to Britain, despite it being accepted as a political reality for generations, according to research examining the issue for the first time.
Instead, Northern Ireland has one of the lowest numbers of incoming students from elsewhere in the United Kingdom, or abroad.
The research was published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Belfast on Wednesday.
“The general perception is that the region experiences a ‘brain drain’ which poses risks for long term economic performance. However, the evidence presented in this research suggests a more nuanced picture,” it found.
RM Block
Seventy-eight per cent of Northern Ireland students study locally, with some 22 per cent studying elsewhere, including Dublin.
When compared with Wales and many English regions, outward mobility from Northern Ireland is not unusually high. Rather, the findings indicate that outward mobility is broadly in line with other regions.
For decades, it has been an accepted political truth in Northern Ireland that it uniquely saw a greater percentage of talented young people leave for elsewhere in the UK, not to come back, than anywhere else.
However, the ESRI found the numbers have been skewed because of comparisons made between Northern Ireland and England: “England and NI are not comparable,” it said.
“In fact, Northern Ireland has a much lower proportion of people leaving for study than the English regions. More simply, the headline figure for England is masking significant movement between English regions.”
However, Northern Ireland has a shortage of university places for local students wanting to study at home because a higher percentage of students there want to go on to third-level compared with elsewhere in the UK.
Compared with every other region in the UK, Northern Ireland has the highest university applicant rate, with 49 per cent of 18-year-olds seeking to progress – as against 33 per cent in Wales and an average of 41 per cent throughout the UK.
“The findings from this research suggest that Northern Ireland combines high participation in higher education with outward mobility patterns that are broadly comparable to other regions,” the ESRI said.
Equally, Northern Ireland had difficulties finding higher-paid work for graduates than elsewhere.
“Around one-third of graduates in Northern Ireland are employed in roles that do not require graduate-level qualifications,” the report noted.
“Graduate earnings in Northern Ireland are among the lowest in the UK, with median earnings at around 93 per cent of the UK average.
“Taken together, this highlights that the challenge is not solely about retaining students, but about ensuring that skills are effectively matched to local labour market demand.”
