Post by Stallit 2 de Halfo on Feb 24, 2009 15:41:37 GMT
Study uncovers class divide in universities
By John Walshe Education Editor
Tuesday February 24 2009
CHILDREN of professionals are 10 times more likely to go to university than the sons or daughters of unskilled workers.
New research reveals that just 2.5pc of first year students at university last year came from unskilled backgrounds. By contrast, almost a quarter were from professional backgrounds, a fifth came from employer or managerial backgrounds and 8.7pc were the children of farmers.
Children of agricultural workers accounted for only 0.3pc of first year university intake; semi-skilled for 5.1pc; skilled manual for 9.9pc; and non-manual for 9.7pc
The socio-economic intake into the institutes of technology was different, with a higher percentage of children of unskilled workers (5.3pc), semi-skilled (8pc) and skilled manual (15.6pc) and non- manual (11pc).
The percentage of new entrants from professional backgrounds is much lower than in the universities -- 13.6pc compared with 24.3pc. The single biggest entry in the institute sector came from employer and managerial backgrounds, at 18.1pc.
The findings, which reveal the extent of the socio-economic education divide, are contained in 'Higher Education: Key Facts and Figures for the Academic Year 07/08' and published by the Higher Education Authority.
The annual report includes the socio-economic data for the first time from 26 colleges.
Difficulties
Of the 1,389 students in these colleges who indicated a disability, half had specific learning difficulties; 13.1pc had emotional/psychological difficulties; 13.4pc had physical conditions and 11.7pc suffered from blindness, deafness, severe vision or hearing impairment. The remainder had other conditions, including chronic illness.
University enrolment rose 10.4pc since 2003/04 but full-time undergraduate enrolments in the institutes of technology dropped 4.4pc over the same period.
Arts and the humanities attracted 28pc of new entrants but combined maths, science and computing showed a decline of over 13pc in universities. New entrants to engineering, construction and manufacturing courses in the institutes of technology vastly outnumbered university entrants in the same courses (3,823 to 1,282).
Just 2.1pc of students in the institutes of technology were from outside the Republic in comparison with 12.2pc in the universities. The greatest proportion of overseas students in the universities came from the US while the number of new entrants from the EU declined sharply.
Meanwhile, in the universities, female enrolment remained unchanged at 59pc of all undergraduates while males were in a slight majority in first year in the institutes at 52.5pc of the intake.
Enrolment on PhD programmes in the universities increased by 9.6pc, with the biggest rise in the science area, but enrolments on masters research programmes declined by 16.6pc over the same year.
Apprentice intake declined 18pc between 2006 and 2007 and by a massive 44pc in 2008.
- John Walshe Education Editor
www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/study-uncovers-class-divide-in-universities-1650735.html
By John Walshe Education Editor
Tuesday February 24 2009
CHILDREN of professionals are 10 times more likely to go to university than the sons or daughters of unskilled workers.
New research reveals that just 2.5pc of first year students at university last year came from unskilled backgrounds. By contrast, almost a quarter were from professional backgrounds, a fifth came from employer or managerial backgrounds and 8.7pc were the children of farmers.
Children of agricultural workers accounted for only 0.3pc of first year university intake; semi-skilled for 5.1pc; skilled manual for 9.9pc; and non-manual for 9.7pc
The socio-economic intake into the institutes of technology was different, with a higher percentage of children of unskilled workers (5.3pc), semi-skilled (8pc) and skilled manual (15.6pc) and non- manual (11pc).
The percentage of new entrants from professional backgrounds is much lower than in the universities -- 13.6pc compared with 24.3pc. The single biggest entry in the institute sector came from employer and managerial backgrounds, at 18.1pc.
The findings, which reveal the extent of the socio-economic education divide, are contained in 'Higher Education: Key Facts and Figures for the Academic Year 07/08' and published by the Higher Education Authority.
The annual report includes the socio-economic data for the first time from 26 colleges.
Difficulties
Of the 1,389 students in these colleges who indicated a disability, half had specific learning difficulties; 13.1pc had emotional/psychological difficulties; 13.4pc had physical conditions and 11.7pc suffered from blindness, deafness, severe vision or hearing impairment. The remainder had other conditions, including chronic illness.
University enrolment rose 10.4pc since 2003/04 but full-time undergraduate enrolments in the institutes of technology dropped 4.4pc over the same period.
Arts and the humanities attracted 28pc of new entrants but combined maths, science and computing showed a decline of over 13pc in universities. New entrants to engineering, construction and manufacturing courses in the institutes of technology vastly outnumbered university entrants in the same courses (3,823 to 1,282).
Just 2.1pc of students in the institutes of technology were from outside the Republic in comparison with 12.2pc in the universities. The greatest proportion of overseas students in the universities came from the US while the number of new entrants from the EU declined sharply.
Meanwhile, in the universities, female enrolment remained unchanged at 59pc of all undergraduates while males were in a slight majority in first year in the institutes at 52.5pc of the intake.
Enrolment on PhD programmes in the universities increased by 9.6pc, with the biggest rise in the science area, but enrolments on masters research programmes declined by 16.6pc over the same year.
Apprentice intake declined 18pc between 2006 and 2007 and by a massive 44pc in 2008.
- John Walshe Education Editor
www.independent.ie/education/latest-news/study-uncovers-class-divide-in-universities-1650735.html