The following table details the number of people participating in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses in the Northern Ireland further education colleges in each of the last five academic years for which data are available.
Academic year ESOL students 2001-02 882 2002-03 1,116 2003-04 1,338 2004-05 3,494 2005-06 6,048 Source: Further Education Statistical Record