Why NI must do more to plug the brain drain

The business community and the biggest names in the industrial world would compete over graduates. But in something of a role reversal, the competition is now more intense than ever.

The numbers attending university in Northern Ireland are at the highest level in the last 10 years. More graduates than ever will soon be leaving with degrees, seeking to start their careers. This will be in hope, rather than expectation.

Let’s not pretend students “get it easy”. On the surface, it looks easier to get into university these days, but what happens afterwards?

That, in most cases, is down to the work and application of students.

Where once universities picked from the cream of the crop, the role is now sorting out the cream from the crop.

The class of 2022 has graduated the hard way. For two years, studies have been interrupted, classes have moved to remote learning and the traditional university life has been curtailed.

Pubs and nightclubs closed. Leisure facilities were limited. Many who had hoped to spend their years in halls of residence instead found themselves heading for home.

Those who stayed found any part-time jobs, usually in the hospitality industry, practically non-existent.

Those who graduated in 2020 and 2021 did so quietly, minus the trappings of their moment in the limelight.

But this month, the mortarboards are being launched to the skies again.

Graduation ceremonies have been be taking place to mark the end of three, perhaps four or more years of study, and the wider world awaits.

For some, that’s straight into work, for others it’s continuing to study. And continuing to study, for many, is becoming one of the most appealing routes to take.

The days of walking out of university with a certificate under your arm and straight into a top job are long gone.

Northern Ireland is excellent at producing top-class graduates. But all too often it’s the rest of the world that benefits from the skills they’ve honed and the knowledge they’ve acquired.

There is a wealth of talent being developed on our own shores.

It could bring a wealth of riches to the country, but there is little point in producing a conveyor belt of world-class footballers and sending them out to play on a bumpy, dusty five-a-side pitch with jumpers for goalposts.

We have an economy that shows little sign of the significant investment needed to use that talent to its full potential.

The issue of the brain drain is always lurking.

Political instability, sectarianism and the issues over Brexit are stirring the pot.

Northern Ireland has to do more to make it an appealing place for young people to live, work and thrive. Last year, political think-tank Pivotal said the loss of talent must be reversed for Northern Ireland to grow economically.

It said: “In the coming decades, the vast majority of newly-created jobs are expected to require high skills and qualifications, such as degrees, while fewer than 10% of new roles will seek people with level 2 qualifications (good GCSEs or equivalent) or lower.”

Bringing those jobs to Northern Ireland is the challenge. And that was before the latest collapse of the institutions at Stormont. It’s not hard to see why so many think, “what’s the point in staying here?”

“Without addressing educational migration as part of a broader upskilling strategy, Northern Ireland is missing out on the contribution these graduates could make to a growing economy,” Pivotal argued.

Graduates here achieve despite a lack of investment in further education. Imagine what they could achieve with the right policies in place.

Just over 65,500 students were at university in Northern Ireland in 2020/21. This was a rise of 5% from 62,690 the previous year, the largest annual percentage increase over the past decade, according to the Department for the Economy.

Again there’s a ‘despite’ — and it’s ‘despite’ the cost of student fees and student accommodation.

There’s a gift horse sitting in the stable. If the country continues to look it in the mouth and turn the other way, it will continue to wander off, and shutting the stable door after it has bolted will be another of those great opportunities missed to build a better Northern Ireland.

The Emerald Isle is where the grass should be greener. But the other side of the fence is looking a lot juicier and a good spray of weed killer is needed to cultivate pastures new a little closer to home.