Author: Mark Azolla

The Eurostudent Survey is a European-wide survey about the social, economic and living conditions of higher education students in EU states, covering dem4ographics, disability, accommodation, travel, income, expenditure, workload, study abroad, well-being and study patterns.

This report, which presents the findings of the sixth Eurostudent survey of over 20,000 higher education students in Ireland, provides a wealth of internationally comparable demographic, economic and social data.  This data provides insights into the quality of life of the increasingly diverse student population in Irish higher education.

Eurostudent is a network of researchers and data collectors, representative of national ministries and other stakeholders who have joined forces to examine the social and economic conditions of student life in higher education systems in Europe.

The main aim of the Eurostudent project is to collate comparable data from 26 countries on the social dimension of European higher education. Eurostudent is a network of researchers and data collectors, representative of national ministries and other stakeholders who have joined forces to examine the social and economic conditions of student life in higher education systems in Europe

The Irish study is overseen by the HEA on behalf of the Department and was undertaken by Insight Statistical Consulting. This publication will include information collated from higher education institutes on the social dimension of higher education in Ireland as provided by a survey completed by students.

It focuses on the socio-economic background and on the living conditions of students.  It also investigates other interesting aspects of student life such as international mobility and employment during term-time.

This report provides results from over 20,000 students attending higher education institutions in Ireland and provides insightful information relating to the demographic profile of students, course characteristic, entry routes, accommodation, employment and other relevant issues on student life. The information collated helps us to comprehend more succinctly the quality of life of the increasingly diverse student population in Irish higher education and how this influences their learning experience.

The findings cover areas such as demographics, course characteristics, disability, college entry route, income and expenditure, accommodation, employment and student.

This report provides an independent statistical analysis of the monthly candidate datasets generated by the draw procedure for the National Bonds Corporation PJSC.  The objective of this analysis is to detect and report, where possible, any non-random patterns in the datasets from which the winning bond numbers are drawn.

The Bond ID is a seven-digit number which signifies the owner of a bond or consecutive range of bonds.  It is drawn from the Candidate file and examined statistically.  In doing this, the relative weighting of each Bond ID from the Historic Record file is referenced.  This accounts for the difference in probability of each digit due to a differing number of bonds with different weights being associated with each Bond ID (related the length of time bonds are owned).

Throughout the report, all statistical tests are carried out at a significance level of α=5%.  In carrying out a large number of statistical tests, it is possible for a certain number of significant results to occur purely by chance (i.e. 5%).  A commentary of the results from all statistical tests is provided within the text.

The independent report, commissioned by EirGrid, has found that the sale prices of residential and farm property in Ireland are not significantly impacted by proximity to overhead transmission lines.

The research was conducted by consultants – Insight Statistical Consulting and Corr Commercial Land Ltd – using published international research, sales data for residential and farm property properties in Ireland, and a survey of the views of Irish estate agents.

Amongst the report’s findings are:

• Analysis of sales data for properties in close proximity to transmission lines in Ireland found there was “no evidence of a statistically significant impact” on prices
• The perception of potential decreases in sales value as a result of high-voltage overhead lines close to property far outweighs the reality borne out in actual sales data
• Internationally, approximately half of the available studies on the issue found no impact on property values; the remaining 50% were generally low, i.e. in the region of 3% to 6%
• The results of both the statistical analysis of the sales of house and farms in Ireland and the international research were compatible; however the views provided by estate agents varied considerably

One of the biggest challenges faced by this project was the need to obtain good quality and accurate data that facilitated the construction of a rigorous statistical model that could isolate the impact of linear infrastructure while factoring out other variables that will impact on price e.g. differences in property characteristics.

Co-author of the report Professor Cathal Walsh, chair of statistics and director of the Centre for Health Decision Science at University of Limerick, said the research should provide comfort for property and landowners near large, planned infrastructural projects, although he acknowledged there is a low level of data available for assessment.

“In the estate agent survey we looked at nine types of types of infrastructure projects, and the agents expressed a view that there would be a negative impact on property value located close to any major infrastructural development. However, when we reviewed the sales data from the same estate agents of property and land situated close to transmission lines, it did not support this anecdotal view,” he said