Study to examine why students abroad rarely return

The North's Equality Commission is to investigate why young people who go to Britain for study rarely return home to start their careers.

The brain drain is particularly pronounced in the Protestant community, with more Catholics choosing to stay in the North to study and to return home when they go to colleges abroad.

The trend is continuing despite the political progress made in the North over the past decade.

The Equality Commission has now appointed researchers from Napier University in Edinburgh to analyse the reasons for many students' failure to return home.