Thousands of Irish students take the plunge every year after the Leaving Cert and leave these shores to study abroad for myriad reasons – including disappointing results, lifestyle challenges, or simply to satisfy a sense of adventure.

While the number of Irish students taking this path overtook the number of British students doing so after Brexit, the number has flattened somewhat since the Covid-19 pandemic after years of steady growth.

There are more than 2,200 undergraduate programmes taught through English across Europe. As European Union citizens, Irish students are entitled to study at any EU university under the same conditions as nationals.

“The lectures are in English, books are in English, projects are in English and all of your classmates – wherever they come from – are fluent in English,” says Guy Flouch, the head of Eunicas, which is the Irish agency that supports Irish students seeking places in Europe.

“In addition, the community is fluent in English, particularly in most countries in northern Europe. In any event, the language of employment – in science, IT, engineering and business – is increasingly English, so many local students are now studying through English, to boost their own employment prospects.”

Flouch reckons there are about 4,000 Irish students studying in Europe. There are just over 2,000 in the Netherlands alone, which is up from under 250 in 2013. The second most popular destination is Poland, where there are several hundred Irish students, while Italy and Denmark also feature high numbers.

The most popular courses for Irish students, Flouch says, tend to be psychology, physiotherapy, and international business, while an increasing number are interested in science and life sciences courses. “A lot of Irish students nowadays are applying to study in Europe as a first choice,” Flouch says. “It’s not just people who don’t get what they want any more.”

Of course, it doesn’t suit everybody. “There are students who are tied to home,” Flouch admits. “They’re tied to their boyfriend or girlfriend, and they don’t want to go abroad, which is fair enough. Maybe you do your undergrad at home and your postgrad abroad.

“Some people are ready later than others. I am finding there are more female students going abroad than male, by about a 60:40 ratio. That’s possibly because girls of about 18 tend to be a little more emotionally mature than lads.”

In terms of entry requirements, most universities on the Continent pay little to no attention to the points a student has accrued in the Leaving Cert. Instead, they must meet minimum entry requirements, which vary from place to place but are invariably lower than those in Ireland.

“This is not a reflection of quality, though,” says Flouch. “It is simply an indicator that, in Ireland, our third-level education system is under pressure, as more and more students chase a small number of places in our universities.

“In this context, points and grades are merely demand indicators, and not a measure of the quality of the programme.”

In terms of colleges on the Continent, Flouch says Leaving Cert students tend to need six passes up to an H5 grade, but, beyond that, students are not selected based on points.

“No country looks at points at all,” he says. “I had an event in Dublin earlier this year where about 600 people attended. A guy from Milan was speaking and a mother stood up ask asked him what points were needed to do medicine or dentistry in Italy. “He looked at her, raised his eyebrow, and said, ‘I don’t care’. It’s totally irrelevant. You’re selected based on an entrance test there, as is the case with a lot of Italian programmes.

“The entrance tests largely apply to Italy and the health sciences programmes in Poland. In the Netherlands, in 90 per cent of the programmes, you have a right to an education if you get six passes in the Leaving Cert to an H5 grade.

“With those that do have an entrance procedure, it largely involves filling in an application form, stating relevant experience, and what motivated you to study the course. Potentially, they send you extracts from a textbook and you attend an online lecture, and they test you on that.”

On fees, the cost of attending many universities in Europe is often much lower than registering for an equivalent programme in Ireland. There are no fees for studying in the four Scandinavian countries or Germany. In the Netherlands, fees are just over €2,600 per annum.

Where there are fees, some countries offer tuition-fee loans with generous repayment terms over long periods. Other countries, subject to conditions, offer loans or grants to contribute to living expenses.

Further to that, Flouch argues that even in countries where fees are higher than Ireland, students will still end up spending less due to the cost-of-living challenges here. “There is none of this rubbish about travelling two or three hours to get to college because you can’t afford to live in Dublin or wherever,” he says.

“Groningen in the Netherlands is by far the city with the most Irish students in Europe. Rents there are between €450-600 per month. Rents in Maastricht, which is the second most popular city for Irish students, are similar.

“Another popular city for Irish students is Pavia in Italy, which is just south of Milan. Rents there are €450 per month.

“There are about 58 Irish students in first year in Warsaw studying veterinary science, and they are guaranteed on-campus accommodation for about €150 per month. So, the fees are higher in eastern Europe than here, but if you take rent into account, it is much cheaper.”

Generally, he says money isn’t an issue. “A lot of Irish students are shopping in markets,” he explains. “There are two or three market days per week in most cities. They’re finding the cost of healthy food very reasonable. Overall, you are spending less for your education in continental Europe than you would here.”

One potential drawback for students, depending on their attitude to the books, is that the academic year is often longer.

“You do work harder,” says Flouch. “The academic year in Ireland is about 26 weeks on average. In the Netherlands, it’s about 40 weeks. So you work hard, but everybody is working hard, and then they play hard.”

In terms of the benefits more generally, he says the three or four years students might spend doing a degree in Europe “really reinforces your independence and your resilience”.

“It also helps build skills in analytical thinking and critical thinking,” he says. “So, you become very employable.

“There are some degrees in the Netherlands called liberal arts and sciences degrees, which are nothing like arts degrees here. They’re based on the American model of education where you study a wide range of subjects in first year and then specialise – or major – in second year.

“There was a girl last year who majored in artificial intelligence [AI], and, when she graduated, she did a Master’s in the ethics of AI in Cambridge University, so there are very, very real options for people who are high-fliers or people who want to build skills for employment.

“Apart from anything, Irish students are often keen to get out of here for a while. Find themselves, do a degree that adds value to their lives, and helps them move forward in a way that maybe some of them wouldn’t do here.”

Flouch also points out that with increased global connectivity, people are closer together than ever, and moving abroad for a period is not as big a deal as it once was.

“Our country is Europe now,” he says. “Moving from Limerick to Dublin as it used to be is now like moving from Ireland to the Netherlands.

“I was talking to a woman recently whose younger daughter came from the Netherlands overnight to attend her sister’s graduation in UCD, and was back the next day. It’s not quite as convenient as popping on a bus from Limerick to Dublin, but it’s close.

“The world is changing. I’ve been doing this for seven or eight years now, and parents are far less worried than they used to be about their kids going abroad. It costs less, it’s safe, and they’re getting a fabulous education.”