A HIGH proportion of the growing number of regional technical college students come from lower income groups, the registrar of Cork Regional Technical College has told a European conference on access to higher education.
Mr Brendan Goggin told the recent European Access Network convention in Cork that there were significant differences between the participation rates of students from different income groups in Irish universities and RTCs.
Some 56.6 per cent of new university entrants in 1992 came from the five highest income groups, from "intermediate non-manual workers" to "higher professionals"; 26.3 per cent came from the five lowest groups, from "unskilled manual workers" to "other non-manual workers". Farmers were not included in the figures.
Only 36.5 per cent of new RTC entrants came from the five highest income groups, compared to 44.7 per cent from the five lowest groups.
"For the technological sector, the position represents a very significant change since 1980," said Mr Goggin. "At that time, twice as many new entrants came from the higher groups than from the lower ones. A very high proportion of the sector's growth has been to cater for entrants from groups previously significantly under-represented in higher education."
Mr Goggin said in 1980 a person from the higher professional group was "more than 20 times more likely to enter higher education than a person from an unskilled manual worker background. By 1992 this had reduced to being seven times more likely - an improved, but still unsatisfactory situation.
But in Dublin and Cork the level of achievement required for RTC admission was generally higher than for other RTCs because of larger student catchment areas and the considerable demand for places in Dublin and Cork from students in other regions.
"This has an effect of accentuating educational disadvantage for students from these cities who are not in a position for economic or other reasons to travel outside their region for their higher education." This was why RTCs were established in Dun Laoghaire and Blanchardstown.