Nine in ten Northern Ireland further education leavers were in employment, further study or a combination of the two around six months after completing their course, according to a new Department for the Economy outcomes report.
The survey covers students who completed qualifications at Level 3 or below during the 2024/25 academic year. It found that 57 per cent were employed when surveyed. The same proportion described their work as a good job under the definition used for the report.
Among those in employment, 46 per cent said the qualification they had completed was needed for their post. Ninety-five per cent were working in Northern Ireland and one quarter had jobs within sectors identified as priorities in the department's economic strategy.
A third of respondents had enrolled on another course. Of that group, 69 per cent said their completed qualification had been required for the next stage and 86 per cent had progressed to a higher qualification level.
Five per cent of the leavers who responded were unemployed at the time of the survey. The remaining outcome categories include people whose circumstances did not fall wholly within employment, study or the unemployment measure used in the published tables.
The results provide a snapshot based on survey responses rather than a continuous record of every leaver. The full report includes breakdowns by college, qualification level, subject area and personal characteristics, along with methodological notes and response rates.