WIT News

CAO Forms to Gather Data on the Social, Economic and Cultural Background of Higher Education Applicants Posted: Thu, January 14, 2010

On behalf of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), the Central Applications Office (CAO) is asking all students to provide information on their social, economic and cultural background as part of their college application this year. The purpose of gathering the information is to measure equality of access to higher education and to help the HEA identify resource and other needs required to attract students of all backgrounds to higher education and to support them while there.

For the first time, information will be gathered on applicants to the CAO - not just those who accept a higher education place.

According to Tom Boland, chief executive of the Higher Education Authority:

"Socio-economic disadvantage remains the major barrier to third level participation. The information gathered in response to these questions will provide a valuable evidence base for the development of policies to encourage potential students from every background to consider third level education and will provide useful metrics against which to measure progress."

'Equal access' information has been collected since 2007 in all publicly-funded higher education colleges in Ireland. The data already gathered is providing the HEA with a rich source of information on participation in college. This is helping to streamline and further develop services and supports for existing students and those thinking about entering higher education.
Simple yes or no answers will be required to questions on disability, socio-economic circumstances, cultural and ethnic background. Although they are not mandatory, all students are encouraged to respond to the questions. The data collected on each student's background is confidential and is safeguarded by data protection legislation.  The information will not affect the CAO application process or subsequent eligibility for financial assistance schemes.

Improving data collection on access to higher education is a key element of the National Access Plan, the implementation of which is coordinated by the HEA. The plan sets out a range of participation targets for the higher sector to be achieved over the coming years and data collection will be critical to measuring the performance of the sector against the targets.