Feeder schools: Find out which schools sent the most children to college in Ireland

Where did students go to college in 2023?

Tue, 12 Dec, 2023 - 06:20

The latest feeder school information published by the Irish Examiner provides insight into the schools of origin for the thousands of college students in all of the country's publicly-funded third-level institutions, including University College Cork, Munster Technological University, and the University of Limerick.

This data also includes information on the number of students attending the two largest fee-paying colleges in the State: Griffith College (which has campuses in Cork, Dublin and Limerick) and Dublin Business School.

Below you can find all the information about how many students attended which colleges, broken down by county and by school.

Q&A: How was the list compiled and how is the data useful?

What can this list tell you?

The list includes all schools in the Republic of Ireland where more than 10 pupils sat the Leaving Cert in 2023. The information comes from the State Examinations Commission and a list of origin of full-time, first-year undergraduate students provided by each of the institutions listed.

What’s not included on this list?

How many students went on to further education (PLC courses) or apprenticeships
Where students from “grind schools” — which are run without State support — went to college. These include Bruce College Cork, Hewitt College, the Institute of Education and others.
How many students went to college in the UK or overseas.

Why can’t I find a particular school on this list?

For one of these reasons:

It had less than 10 students sitting the Leaving Cert and, for data protection reasons, the SEC does not provide this information.
The school has closed.
It amalgamated with other local schools. Where a student attended a school that has since amalgamated, we have credited that student to the new school.

How is this data useful?

As it stands, this database is the only source of information for parents who want to know about the academic success of schools in their area.

Accuracy And Fairness

To ensure the greatest possible degree of accuracy and fairness, the Irish Examiner uses a standardised system to compile this list. There may be errors in some of the data provided by third-level institutions, but we are able to identify and correct the vast majority of these. However, there are a very small number of occasions where schools will record a slightly lower than accurate third-level progression.

The Irish Examiner regrets that it cannot enter into correspondence regarding the manner in which the data is compiled.

Timing of oral exams for Leaving Cert students is being evaluated