Study finds one-in-four has third level degree

ONE-IN-FOUR Irish adults under the age of 65 holds a third-level qualification — a 5% increase in just three years, figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) revealed yesterday.

A quarter of 15-64 year-olds have sat and passed college exams, compared with just a fifth in 2002, the report revealed. Women are top of the class with 373,000 obtaining third-level grades with 325,000 men following suit.

When 15-24 year-olds are excluded, just over 28% of 25-64-year-olds held a college qualification in 2005, a rise of 3.5% since 2002.