The Irish Independent reports that, according to an EU study: 

• Irish graduates are the most highly employable in Europe;
• Irish universities have the highest graduation rate in Europe;
• Ireland has the highest percentage of graduates in Europe;
• Universities in Ireland, Finland and Sweden are given the highest 'excellence' rating by academics in other EU countries.

Universities in Ireland and the UK are regarded by recruiters as providers of the most employable graduates, the report states.

It says also that considering their size, Finland, Ireland and Sweden are the countries with more universities regarded by their peers as "excellent".

The report concludes that Ireland, Japan, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands are at the top in terms of efficiency or to use the jargon "at the production possibility frontier".

"In some cases, this was essentially due to excellent scientific production (Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands), whereas Ireland attained its position due to the graduation output, which is not only high in number but also the best in perceived quality."

The report says that Ireland, France and the Eastern European countries are particularly efficient in teaching, whereas the Nordic countries specialize more in research.

Professor Jim Browne, president of NUI Galway, said the study was a clear vindication of the efficiency of the Irish university system.

There had been too much emphasis on inputs and time spent on hours teaching, but the real measure was the "output", and Irish universities had been shown to be very efficient in that regard, he said. (Source: Irish Independent)