To ask the Minister for the Economy whether her Department holds any data on the number of Northern Ireland domiciled students, who graduate from universities outside of Northern Ireland and who subsequently return to live here, within 10 years of graduating.

My Department does not hold data on the number of locally domiciled students who graduate from universities in other regions and subsequently return to live here within 10 years of graduation.

The principal source of information available to my Department on where graduates live and work after graduating is the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s (HESA) Graduate Outcomes survey. This survey captures graduate activity approximately 15 months after graduation. The results of the 2023/24 survey shows that about half of locally domiciled graduates in employment who studied elsewhere had returned here to work.