Student Success in Their Own Words: Insights from Higher Education in Ireland

The Student Success Survey 2025 was undertaken by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to examine how students across Ireland define, experience, and achieve success in higher education. The study builds on the HEA discussion paper, ‘Between Metrics: Rethinking 21st Century Student Success in Ireland’ (2025) as well as the HEA Student Success Framework and Expert Review (2025), which positions student success as simultaneously student-defined, institution-created, and outcomes-oriented. This tripartite understanding reflects a holistic approach that recognises the personal, institutional, and societal dimensions of success, and underscores that success is a shared responsibility across the higher education system.

This report is based on the perspectives of students in higher education in Ireland. The survey was conducted from April to June 2025 and was open to all students enrolled in publicly funded higher education institutions in Ireland. Survey circulation was facilitated through National Forum Associates, Registrars’ Offices, and Students’ Unions, ensuring broad national reach. In total, 3,462 valid responses were received from students across 17 higher education institutions, encompassing all publicly funded HEIs and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), and representing a wide range of disciplines, study levels, and demographics.

The survey instrument, hosted on SurveyMonkey, comprised 27 questions and combined quantitative and qualitative elements. It explored how students:
• define and measure success
• identify supports and enablers of success
• describe the barriers and challenges that hinder it.

Permissions and information on data processing were embedded at the beginning of the instrument, and data collection complied with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (2018). A full copy of the survey instrument is provided in the Appendix.