Forgive the mess, he says. I've got to stop buying books - I've run out of space. Mess? What mess? Sure, the walls of Pat Clancy's office are lined with books and his desk is covered with papers, but there's a neatness and precision about it all that looks pretty tidy to me. Professor Pat Clancy is the Clancy in the famous Clancy Reports - those national surveys of entrants to higher education which have been appearing at intervals since 1982. But he wasn't always a third-level academic.

From Tipperary, he started out as a national school teacher and did a evening degree in economics, philosophy and English at UCD, followed by a master's in sociology at the University of Toronto in Canada. "I'm one of the last of a generation that came into sociology indirectly," he says. "It wasn't a very big subject in those days and wasn't available as a evening degree." He started lecturing in sociology at UCD in 1973.

His PhD, on which he had embarked the previous year, was on school administration - the role perceptions of primary school principals. At that time, he says, no university department was teaching educational administration. He sent out a questionnaire to "walking" (non-teaching) principals, who were in schools with eight or more teachers. "A quarter of those I surveyed reported that they had chosen not to stop teaching. That would be unthinkable today. At that time, management didn't seem to be a great priority."

According to the UCD professor, it was pure chance that got him involved in higher education research. Back in the late 1970s, the HEA approached him and Prof Ciaran Benson to research the higher education needs of the Dublin area. "We did the study fairly quickly and developed a methodology, which I have subsequently used in my research," Clancy says. "We described the phenomenon - who was coming into higher education and where they were coming from. We looked at the changing demographics and the growth of the outer suburbs."

In their 1979 report, Clancy and Benson recommended the establishment of three RTCs - Tallaght, Blanchardstown and Shankill. The Government delay in acting on the recommendation was a disappointment, Clancy concedes. However, "Tallaght was the right one to go for first. My 1995 report demonstrated that participation rates had increased in the Tallaght area. That must be due to the college."

In 1980, the HEA approached Clancy to undertake his first national study of third-level entrants, which became the 1982 Clancy report - Participation in Higher Education. "It showed that the highest participation rate was in Co Carlow. It's such a small county, the presence of a third level-college has to have an enormous impact on the whole county. This was in contrast to Donegal - Letterkenny is a long way from Glencolmcille and there the impact was local." Although the survey was a national one, the HEA asked Clancy to put the microscope to three counties in particular - Wexford, Tipperary and Mayo.

"Lobbies were building up for third-level colleges in these areas. I didn't just look at the counties of origin of third-level entrants, I looked at the postal districts as well. I found that areas that were reasonably adjacent to Waterford and Carlow ITs, had higher participation rates than the rest of the counties. This demonstrated that proximity was a factor in attending third level. You could see the local effects of a third-level college. Ultimately, Mayo got its college (the Galway-Mayo IT) and Tipperary got the TRBI. Only Wexford failed in its struggle."

The South East, he says, is still "a blackspot in terms of its third-level provision". Clancy was a member of the technical working group that advised the steering group set up to decide whether a university should be established in the south east and in Waterford in particular.

"We recommended against a university but in favour of allowing Waterford RTC to expand its degree programmes to meet the local needs and giving it institute of technology status. "The Minister moved on it very quickly, but it became a nightmare politically - all the other RTCs were up in arms. It was a reasonable solution to the problem. The catchment area wasn't large enough to support a fully-fledged university and the last thing we wanted was to establish a university alongside the RTC. Our solution, to upgrade Waterford and make it in effect an IT and to differentiate it from the other colleges, seemed logical, but in retrospect was politically naive." The 1982 report was followed by Who Goes to College? in 1988, Access to College - Patterns of Continuity and Change in 1995 and the first part of the most recent survey, Social Background of Higher Education Entrants, just last month.

According to Clancy, you can read the most recent report two ways - in absolute or relative terms. In 1980, six social groups were over-represented at third level (35 per cent entering) and five were under-represented (8 per cent entering). By 1998, the rate for the six top socio-economic groups was 62 per cent compared with 30 per cent for the lower groups. Which is the more significant change? Clancy asks.

The Clancy Reports take more than two years to compile. Data is collected from the colleges, from the CAO, and, for the last two reports (because the CAO had ceased to require occupation of parents' information), directly from the students. Clancy admits that the surveys could contain some bias. If so, it is likely that the lower socio-economic groups are understated, he says. Two tests indicate that figures are accurate - the schools from which thirdlevel entrants are coming and whether they get grants. However, people going to ITs(which admit a higher proportion students from lower socio-economic backgrounds) are less likely to return the questionnaires, while people entering professional courses in universities are more likely to send back the forms, he says.

Research into higher education is only in its infancy in Ireland and indeed is a relatively new phenomenon in most of Europe.

Factfile

Education:

Thurles CBS. St Patrick's, Drumcondra: 1962-64. UCD night degree: 1966-68. HDip in education: 1969. University of Toronto (master's in sociology): 1970. UCD PhD in sociology: 1972-78.

Married: to Aine, a second-level teacher.

Children: Cian and Cliodhna, both bankers.

Interests: a high handicap golfer and an avid hurling spectator.

Favourite novel: John McGahern's Amongst Women.

Holidays: anywhere in south west France.