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20% of grads may emigrate for work: study
By Noreen Bowden | April 7, 2009
One in five university students surveyed are planning on emigrating to find work, according to a poll taken by University College Cork’s student union in conjunction with Senator Alan Kelly of the Labour Party. The survey interviewed 339 students at UCC, Cork Institute of Technology, University of Limerick and the Limerick Institute of Technology.
The survey found that one-fifth of the final year and post-graduate students are planning to emigrate, while nearly 90% of those surveyed have no work lined up for when their studies finish this summer. Over half feel they have little chance of finding a job, and 63% are pessimistic about the future. About half the students polled are planning to remain in education.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said of the findings:
“The students in colleges across Munster should be aiming to be the generation who will lead the European project and the Irish economy in the future, but that will not happen if we are just throwing the next generation on the dole queue,” he said.
The UCC student union has called for a graduate placement programme in response to the survey.
Additionally, there was an article in the Irish Times highlighting the effects of the downturn on three students; two of the featured students said they were considering emigrating after graduating.
One of them, Alan O’Connor, a 23-year-old science student at the Institute of Technology, Tallaght, said, “I’ve sent out a load of CVs, but have had no response yet. I’ll keep trying until September and then I’ll head to Canada.”
Related articles:
- Irish Examiner: 20% of graduates will emigrate to find work
- Irish Times: Students brace themselves for harsh new economic reality
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