5 Things You’d Better Know Before Coming to Study in Ireland
As studying abroad becomes more available, an accumulating number of international students who are aspired to pursue higher education start to apply for foreign universities and colleges. Among those, higher institutions in Ireland is becoming an increasingly popular destination.
If you or someone around you are interested in studying in Ireland, you might find the following information helpful.
Location: Dublin Centralized
Take a look at the map below, you can easily tell that a large part of the higher education institutes is based in the greater area of Dublin, with the rest dispersing in other big cities, like Cork, Galway and Limerick.
Since Dublin is Ireland’s capital and largest city, educational resources and other social resources consolidate in this area, such as convenient public transportation, historical heritage and entertainment venues.
Besides, many tech giants set their headquarters in Ireland, especially in Dublin, which opens multiple career opportunities for international graduates.
If you are looking for prosperous city life and varied opportunity, make sure taking the location of the university into your consideration.
Reputation: High Academic Ranking
All 7 Irish universities are ranked in the top 3% of institutions worldwide with many research fields in the top 1% in the world. The graph below shows that the rankings of all universities in the over five years are relatively stable, with Trinity College Dublin, University College Dublin and NUI Galway stay in the top three universities.
High world university rankings stand for global recognition and the good reputation of the university, which is also an endorsement benefiting these graduates in their future job seeking.
Let’s further explore three of the metrics in QS World University Rankings, which are Citations per faculty, International Student Ratio and International Faculty Ratio.
TCD and UCD demonstrate relatively strong research output compare to the other five institutions. Besides, TCD receives remarkably high scores in international students ratio, followed by the other four universities except for Maynooth University and Limerick University, which seem more domestic student concentrated. All the 7 Irish universities attack high potion of faculties from across the world, which in turn suggests that it possesses a strong international brand.
Diversity: International Students
As the former data suggests, the high standard of Irish education attracts students from all over the world to pursue further study in Ireland. In 2017, the number of international students studying in Ireland is around 24000. In 2019, the figure reaches 28,000. Whereas by 2020 over 32,000 international students are studying in Irish higher education institutions, availing of the extensive range of courses available.
The map above displays the places of origin of students studying in Ireland. We can tell from the colour that North America and East Asia are significantly red and dark, implying most international students come from these areas.
Among them, 6423 students are from the USA and Canada, accounting for near 34% of the total amount of international students, whereas China, India and Malaysia contribute another 35%. Besides, around 1400 international students come from Ireland’s neighbouring country the UK.
Students come from different countries with varied cultural background compose a diversified learning environment, facilitating the exchange of best practices and beliefs, which also provides students with international sympathies and global awareness: soft skills increasingly valuable to employers.
Expansion: Increasing Enrolments
Irish higher educational institutions saw a trend of expansion in recent years. Give the eye on the overall enrollment from 2014 to 2018. The stacked column chart below demonstrates a steady increase in the total number of students enrolled in the five years, in both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Such rise mainly comes from the boost of enrolment in universities, with college enrolments taking a small portion. The amount of undergraduate students enrolled in Institutes of Technology is quite stable, while postgraduate students enrolled expanded in 2017 and 2018.
The chart below reveals the ranking of enrolments of Irish higher education institutes in 2018 to 2019 academic year.
UCD, Ireland’s largest university, presents a superb capacity of accepting new students, with near 27,000 students enrolled, 12% of the total enrolments in 2018, followed by UCC and NUI Galway. It appears that all the seven HEA-funded universities are over 12,000 enrolments in that year. And TU Dublin City Campus is the biggest Institutes of Technology, with over 18,000 enrolments.
The expansion in enrolments signifies an increasing investment in academic resources and facilities, which also suggest a prosperous development of the educational institutions.
Trend: Popular Field of Study
If you are still thinking of what major to choose, check the most popular subject in Ireland!
The Higher Education Authority categorize all majors into 11 fields of study. The arrow chart below reveals the number of students enrolled and percentage change in the fields of study among new entrants from 2015 to 2018. The colour and length of the arrow represent the trend and popularity of this field in the four years period.
You may notice that Education, Art and humanities and Business, administration and law are gaining significant popularity in recent years, with an increase of 17%, 14% and 11% respectively. Apparently, Art and Humanities is the most popular field of study, with around 9700 new entrants in 2018, followed by Business, administration and law of 8309 new enrolments.
On the contrary, the field of Generic programmes and qualifications, Services and Social sciences, journalism and information seem to lose attraction to new entrant students, dramatically decrease in 23.9%, 18.4% and 11.1% respectively.
Challenge: the Pandemic
The challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic is in every dimension of our life, and education is not an exception. Schools in many countries have closed in response to gathering restriction and social distancing, in Ireland as well. In light of the uncertainty around studying abroad in 2020, delaying or deferring studies seem like a sensible option.
According to a survey of 2,700 responses from prospective and current international students, over half of the prospective students agree that COVID-19 has impacted their future study abroad plans.
More specifically, only 13.4% of them plan to continue their studies as normal. Over 43% of the prospective students surveyed intend to postpone their plans in response to the pandemic. And 4.7% interviewed intended to cancel their future study plans.
Concerns about studying abroad, in this case, come from many aspects:
- the risk of international travel
- the discomfort of the online learning experience
- lack of social interaction with classmates
- staying focused and self-motivated
- financial pressures and not feeling cost-effective
- ……
It is so true that please take the above concerns into account when making your decision of studying in Ireland.
In conclusion, we had look at the location, reputation, diversity, expansion and trends of study in Irish higher education institutes with diagrams and statistics, as well as discussing the challenges under pandemic. Hope you find the information above useful in the light of deciding your dream school, major and future career.
No matter what choice you make, always remember there’s no right or wrong when it comes to exploring your direction!
Enjoy!
