The Higher Education Authority in Ireland recently published a report entitled “Who went to college in 2004”

The report runs to over 200 pages and covers admission rates by region, socio economic groupings, gender of college entrants and field of study as well as many other topics.

Rates of admission in County Wicklow are cited as being relatively low at 49.6% along with Waterford (48.7%), Offaly (47.1%), Donegal (46.3%) and Westmeath (40.8%). The figures for Monaghan and Donegal improve when account is taken of the number of students entering Educational Institutes in Northern Ireland.

The counties with the highest rates of admission were Sligo, Galway, Kerry, Mayo, Meath, Carlow and Longford with all achieving greater than 60% admission rates and Sligo reaching 70.5%.

The reasons for the disparity in admission rates between counties are many and varied but the report cites that one of the key factors explaining the county level variance is proximity to third level institutions.

County Wicklow has no Institute of Technology and reading between the lines of this report it becomes apparent that the establishment of a third level institute for County Wicklow could have a positive impact on the admission rates figures.

Currently there are no firm plans for an third level college in County Wicklow but these results may bring the subject back onto the agenda.