Adult education numbers fell in years prior to recession

THE recent spike in mature students attending college comes against a slight drop in the number of adults in formal education up to the beginning of the recession.

The number of mature students – aged 23 or over – seeking entry to college through the Central Applications Office rose by almost one-fifth this year to 14,700, and they make up most of the 7,280 places allocated before Leaving Certificate students got their results, 12% higher than in 2009.

But the Central Statistics Office (CSO) reports a slight decrease from 6% to 5% of people aged 25 or over who had taken part in formal education between early 2003 and autumn 2008. As part of the Quarterly National Household Survey, 17,500 adults were interviewed about their lifelong learning experiences in the previous year.