I propose to take Questions Nos. 614 and 615 together.
There were some 116,000 students in third level institutions aided by my Department in 1999-2000, the last year for which statistics are available and my Department is projecting an increase on this figure to some 119,000 in the current year. Within the figure of 116,000 there were some 46,000 students in the institute of technology sector.
The first review of the 1995 Report of the Steering Committee on the Future Development of Higher Education was carried out by a study group under the chairmanship of Dr. Donal de Buitléir which reported in March 1999. The review group concluded that the appropriate strategic objective for Ireland should be to first achieve and then maintain a position well within the top quarter of OECD countries in terms of the participation of the population in post second level education and training, and in the quality of that education and training. The review group noted that existing and planned investment in third level places would result in capacity of 114,000 full-time places by 2001 and it considered that this increased capacity would allow Ireland to meet its strategic objective in relation to undergraduate provision for traditional school leavers. The review group also noted that provision should be kept under review in the light of factors such as unanticipated skills demand, postgraduate needs and developments in competitor countries. In recommending that an additional stock of up to 10,000 places for mature students be built up over a number of years, the review group considered that the demand should first be validated by appropriate market research on the target population.
The Higher Education Authority was requested to benchmark our performance vis-à-vis the top quarter of OECD countries, to monitor developments in other countries and to recommend any necessary adjustments to the level of third level provision. The authority is finalising its first benchmarking exercise which will be available shortly. On the question of provision for mature students, the authority has commissioned market research on the demand for mature student provision, as recommended by the review group.