Conclusions

The national rate of admission to higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland has increased steadily over the past two decades. Recent increases have been particularly dramatic, from 44% in 1998 to 55% in 2004. The period has been characterised by two over-arching patterns. The first pattern has entailed continuity, with persistent social inequalities in access to higher education. This is reflected in the over-representation of the children of certain groups among new entrants to higher education, relative to their shares of the population. The children of higher professionals and farmers have been particularly privileged in this respect. Other social groups, particularly from manual socio-economic groups, have been under-represented among college entrants. Much of this derives from social inequality at primary and second-level education – among those who perform well in the Leaving Cert examination, there is little differentiation across groups in access to college.

There is continuing social differentiation within the third level sector, that is, by sector, type and duration of course. While greater numbers of higher education students are enrolled on honours degree-level courses (rather than ordinary degree or diploma-level courses), the profile of students entering courses in different sectors and fields of study is strongly structured by social class and educational background. Students from professional and more highly educated backgrounds continue to dominate entry to prestigious, degree-level courses in the university sector.

There is also a clear persistence of wide geographical/regional variations in participation rates – both in terms of Dublin postal codes and region, partly reflecting the socio-economic patterning of the population. Most notably, counties located in western regions of Ireland continue to have higher second-level retention rates and higher rates of admission to higher education. Such western counties are also marked by lower levels of socio-economic inequality in access, suggesting that educational expansion has the effect of reducing inequality.

The second overarching trend is one of change. Particularly in recent years, there is evidence of some narrowing of relative social inequalities, partly arising as more advantaged groups reach a ‘saturation point’ in their levels of retention at second level and in rates of progression to higher education, also due to the children of manual workers increasing their participation rates. Such declining inequalities may suggest that measures targeting resources and initiatives at more disadvantaged students at second level and measures promoting a more representative access at third level may be having a positive impact. However, some of the reduction in the gap between the social classes in second level retention is being achieved through the Leaving Certificate Applied, which is not recognised in terms of third level entry criteria. Hence some of the gains being made by less advantaged groups in the second level system are not impacting on third level inequalities.

The profile of higher education students has altered somewhat in recent years as the proportions entering college have increased. The average higher education student is slightly older, partly reflecting the greater number of mature students in higher education, although those progressing to higher education from second level are also somewhat older. There is stability in the gender composition of new entrants – females continue to out-number male entrants to higher education, in line with their greater retention within the second-level system. Finally, the results indicate declining academic achievement, with new entrants in 2004 achieving fewer Leaving Certificate honours as compared with their 1998 counterparts.

In considering the routes taken to higher education, significant numbers entering higher education have not done so directly after completion of the Leaving Certificate, with some, particularly those from less economically advantaged backgrounds, entering through the PLC programme and others taking a deliberate break (gap year) in advance of entering college. Students with such delayed entry are much more highly represented in the Institute of Technology sector, suggesting a greater flexibility in this sector in facilitating students accessing college though other routes.

This analysis of the social background of college entrants has mainly focused on the average chances of participation in higher education between social groups. Outside of those social classes with very high rates of participation, there is substantial dispersion of chances of participation within social classes. This raises important questions about other determinants of access to higher education. For example, US research has emphasised the importance of parental resources and education, and ethnicity. We have suggested that, in future studies of access to higher education, consideration should be given to adopting a multivariate research design that would allow rigorous analysis of the impact of a range of factors that may influence access to higher education, including in addition to socio-economic background, previous educational experience and performance, attitudes to education and career, regional location, and other background characteristics.

Finally, it is also important to acknowledge that entry to college is but the first step in higher education. We also need to know more about retention levels in higher education in order to establish what proportion of entrants successfully graduate. Further research is also needed into the impact of socio-economic background and other factors influencing retention in higher education.