Pursuing a PhD in Ireland

The benefits of pursuing a PhD in Ireland

As an EU member state that enjoys close educational ties to the UK system, the national landscape for doctoral education in Ireland is well aligned with international best practice. 

PhD graduates from an Irish higher education institute will have benefited from a structured PhD programme that, besides the research project itself, also incorporates professional development and a transfer assessment to ensure that the research programme is on track.

To pursue a programme of study that demands one contribute new knowledge to a given field and, in so doing, add to the greater store of human understanding, is its own reward. But it is also true that the value of the skills acquired through this work goes far beyond their immediate application in academic research.

By the time they have completed their course of study, PhD graduates will have had ample opportunity not just to pursue research in their chosen field but also to develop a range of critical skills that offer key advantages in the employment market.

A recent Higher Education Authority report provides data to support this position.

• Doctoral graduates are more likely to be working in education, professional, scientific and technical activities, industry, and public administration and defence than graduates with awards at lower NFQ levels.
• Recent data from the Central Statistics Office shows that doctoral graduates earn more one year after graduation than any other award level, and this finding has stood for a decade.
• The data for the class of 2022 show that professional occupations were the most common occupation type for doctoral graduates, with close to two in three graduates were on permanent or open-ended contracts. While this report shows variations across disciplines it broadly demonstrates that doctoral graduates from the Irish higher education system are in a strong position in terms of opportunity uptake in the labour market.
• Turning to international data, the OECD Education At a Glance 2022 report shows that those 25–64 year olds with doctoral or equivalent education have an employment rate of 94%, the highest rate out of all levels of educational attainment.
• Similarly, data for Ireland shows that doctoral graduates have the highest employment rates of all levels of education.