I propose to take Questions Nos. 531, 532, 533, 534, 535, 536, 537, 538, 539 and 541 together.
I propose to take PQs 6749, 6750, 6751, 6752, 6753, 6754, 6755, 6756, 6757 and 6759 together.
The challenge to ensure a well-qualified labour force to meet the demands of the economy is a fundamental focus for my Department across the entire skills system, including tertiary - composed of further and higher education - and also through the research ecosystem at fourth level.
Ireland has an advanced system of skills provision, across further and higher education and lifelong learning, which is agile and responsive to changes in the world of work. It is, of course, also critical that graduates acquire technical and transversal skills, and that our talent pipeline meets these dual and complementary needs. We know that in a dynamic economy and labour market there will be skills gaps. The imperative is to ensure that our skills forecasting and delivery system is proactive in assessing and responding to the existing and emerging skills needs in our economy and society. My Department’s skills policies continue to be developed taking account of ‘mega-trends’ impacting on labour demand including digitalisation, automation and climate change.
Underpinned by the framework of the National Skills Strategy 2016-2025, a core principle of skills policy development in Ireland is partnership with enterprise and other key stakeholders. This is achieved through a range of partnership platforms, which foster engagement, dialogue, and collaboration between relevant Government Departments and agencies, the education and training system, the enterprise agencies, and private sector representatives.
The development of skills policy and responses to skills needs is evidence based and informed by the work of the Skills and Labour Market Research Unit (SOLAS) and the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs in relation to the supply of and demand for occupational skills. The SLMRU also provides an analysis of Ireland’s online job vacancies (at occupational level) and difficult-to-fill job vacancies in their National Skills Bulletin each year. In addition, the EGFSN undertakes research and horizon scanning on medium to longer term skills demand across specific occupations or sectors, as informed by Government or specific sectoral strategies.
Specific projections for the number of higher education graduates are not currently produced, as a number of variables can impact graduate output in any one year. However, projections of full-time enrolments in higher education predict that enrolments will rise by at least 8% over the next five years, and work is ongoing to build capacity within the system to accommodate this increase. The number of students graduating from higher education courses each year has increased from 64,246 in 2015 to 81,461 in 2020, an increase of more than 25% in five years.
Further Education and Training (FET) provides a continuum of learning opportunities for around 200,000 unique learners each year from Levels 1 to Level 6 of the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), and it provides an opportunity for everyone to engage in learning whilst delivering on the critical skills needs of the economy and the future world of work. FET provision includes labour market focused programmes, and these programmes are available on both a full and part-time basis including evenings and weekends, to suit the lives of learners of all ages and from all backgrounds. The FET system performance framework also sets out targets specifically in relation to supporting jobs.
The mainstream supply of graduates is supplemented with more targeted initiatives designed to meet specific skills needs of employers. Key national targeted initiatives across the tertiary system include Springboard+, the Human Capital Initiative, Skills to Advance and Skills to Compete. The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025 sets out new ways of structuring, funding, and promoting apprenticeships to make apprenticeship accessible to employers and learners. The actions set out in the plan seek to deliver a target of 10,000 apprenticeship registrations per annum by 2025. In 2021 there were a record 8,607 registrations.
Looking forward, the OECD Skills Strategy Project, which I launched in November, will greatly assist my Department in its examination of our National Skills Strategy and approach - in order to ensure that we have a solid foundation on which to build Ireland’s competitiveness and support economic and social sustainability into the future.