NI universities continue to play a vital role in our economic success - Empey

10 January 2008

Minister for Employment and Learning, Sir Reg Empey, today gave his reaction to the report issued by the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

The Minister said: “The figures published today relate to enrolments for the 2006-07 academic year.  The figures presented for NI do not include Northern Irish students studying in other parts of the UK or abroad.  Preliminary data for the current academic year show that the number of applicants accepted to Northern Ireland Higher Education Institutions has increased by around 8%.

“There is a range of contributory factors which need to be taken into account to explain the decrease in enrolments in 2006-07. All of these will certainly be investigated further during the review planned to commence in the next academic year.  

“Participation levels of young people have almost doubled in Higher Education in Northern Ireland in the past 15 years and long term trends would suggest an increase of approximately 30% in the number of students attending university in Northern Ireland in the last 10 years.”

The Minister concluded: “The Northern Ireland Higher Education sector continues to play an important and vibrant role in our economic success and is vital in ensuring that we continue to deliver a well educated workforce with a high level of skills.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

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