College in Ireland: the stats

The Higher Education Authority released some interesting stats:

• There are 2.7 females for every male on education / teaching courses.
• The average number of students on any degree course is 147.
• Undergrads from Dublin’s south side outnumber north-siders by 2:1
• There are 6.6 males for every female on engineering / construction courses.
• There are over 12,000 full-time students and over 12,000 part-time students who are over 30 years of age.
• There are over 170,000 full time higher education students, which is equivalent to about the same size as the combined populations of Sligo, Leitrim and Cavan.
• The greatest number of full time students from outside Ireland come from the United States (over 2,000) while around a thousand each come from Britain, China and Malaysia.
• There are over 3,800 students engaged in distance learning (online).
• In 2012, 63% of students were offered and accepted their first place choice on their CAO application.
• More students were born in May than any other month; fewer were born in November than any other month. There are 180 students in higher education who have their birthday on 29th February.