Edinburgh Napier University

  The Employment Research Institute (ERI) at Napier University was commissioned by the Equalities Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) to carry out research to examine the impact of educational migration and non-return on community composition and skills in Northern Ireland. The main aim of this research was to understand the key patterns and drivers of educational migration and non-return and the impact of this on the community composition of the pool of qualified labour available to employers in Northern Ireland. The objectives of the research included: summarising the key patterns and trends associated with educational migration and non-return of Northern Ireland students; distilling the key drivers - political, economic, policy, attitudinal, social and cultural - for educational migration amongst Northern Ireland-domiciled students, and non-returners, taking into account community background, gender and socio-economic status; quantifying the current and future impact of educational migration and non-return on the community composition across or within specific areas of the labour market, considering various factors; making actionable recommendations for the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, policymakers, education providers and/or those collecting monitoring and attainment data.