Vol. 565 No. 2
6 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Education and Science the recommendations made in the report of the Action Group on Access to Third Level Education that have been implemented and those that have still to be implemented; if a timetable has been set for the implementation of the outstanding recommend ations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10204/03]
The action group's report was published in July 2001. Responsibility for implementation of many of these recommendations lies with my Department. Some recommendations require action on the part of other Departments. On a wider level, the recommendations call for action on the part of third level institutions, schools and community and voluntary groups.
To date a number of measures have been taken by my Department in response to the main recommendations in the report. The most significant spending recommendation of the group concerned the introduction of special rates of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students, commonly referred to as top-up grants. These recommendations were introduced, with retrospective effect, from the 2000-01 academic year.
Following a review early in 2002, I increased the annual income threshold for the special rates by 32%. For 2002-03, I also increased the special rate of grant to €4,000 for students residing more than 15 miles from college and to €1,600 for students residing within 15 miles of college. This is equivalent to a top-up of €1,490 and €596 respectively, for eligible students on the ordinary maintenance grant. As a result of the review, it is expected that the number of students qualifying for the top-up grant in 2002-03 will double to 7,000 students.
A new millennium partnership fund for disadvantage was introduced with effect from 2001. The fund provides assistance to partnership companies and community groups to develop their support schemes for students from disadvantaged families. Area Development Management Limited, under whose aegis the partnerships operate, administered the fund for the 2001-02 academic year.
The total allocation for the 2001-02 academic year was €1.2 million, with 37 partnerships and community groups receiving allocations from the fund. I increased the provision for the fund to €2 million this year. ADM Limited, which is continuing to administer the fund, has notified 50 area partnerships and community groups of their allocations in respect of the 2002-03 academic year.
The report of the Action Group on Access to Third Level Education sets out a co-ordinated framework of actions required to improve equity of access to third level. The group considered that a single co-ordinating body was essential in order to realise the framework. Accordingly, a key recommendation of the group was that a national office for equity of access to higher education be established to ensure the effective implementation of many of the recommendations in the report. I have given approval for the establishment of the national office for equity of access to higher education and my Department is engaged in discussions with the Higher Education Authority with a view to bringing the national office into operation this year. I anticipate that the national office will facilitate the aim of increasing third level access by the three target groups, in partnership with my Department, the third level institutions and other stakeholders and agencies.
Additional informationThe action group recommended that the various interventions at early childhood, primary and second level to address disadvantage be reviewed by the Educational Disadvantage Committee. To date the work of the committee has addressed many issues related to the integration and cohesion of service provision to students in greatest need. In addition, the outcomes from the Educational Disadvantage Forum have clearly signalled the need for an integrated and comprehensive policy framework for educational inclusion and for more coherent structures to be established at both policy and operational levels. A report on the deliberations and discussions of the forum has recently been presented to me.
Some of the action group's recommendations relate to the achieving of targets for access to third level education, over the period of the national development plan, in relation to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, mature students and students with a disability.
I am committed to progressing these and other recommendations in the report of the Action Group on Access to Third Level Education and to ensuring that the issue of equity of access to third level education remains a priority during my tenure of office as Minister for Education and Science. In this context, the Deputy will wish to be aware that when the Government first came into office in 1997, spending on third level access measures totalled €508,000. In 2002, this had risen to €23.98 million which represents, by any standards, a quantum leap in committed resources. The 2003 provision is €26 million.
My Department is also conducting a review of student support provisions aimed at ensuring that the benefits of the substantial investment being made are maximised. Some of the issues being examined, such as the reform of student supports, are issues in relation to which the Action Group on Access to Third Level Education made a number of recommendations.
When will the national office for equity of access to higher education be open? Will it be open for students who will be considering going to third level in the autumn?
Some of the third level institutions have identified programmes or expansions of programmes which they feel would benefit their communities in reaching out to second level and primary level, but do not have the funding to implement them. Is the Minister sympathetic to those proposals which would, to return to his earlier answer, address the real problem of access which, as we all have agreed, starts at a much earlier stage?
I can assure the Deputy that I am sympathetic to any proposals which might increase access. However, this report to which we refer contains recommendations, not only about the obligations of the Department to fund access to third level and to encourage, through top-up grants, access offices and a fairly substantial commitment, from €500,000 to €26 million, to facilitate access, but also for the colleges themselves. I am a little worried about something that has arisen over the past number of months, where universities and third level institutions set out to attract and to facilitate access by people from disadvantaged areas, particularly in their own localities. Some of them put in place foundation courses and now they are expecting the Department to pay for them. I regard those foundation courses as their contribution to improving access to education. They should fund these courses and the students on them, and I make no apologies for saying so. Setting up such courses and putting a hand out for the taxpayer to fund them is not the way to go about it. Foundation courses should be funded by the colleges.
It is hoped that the office will be operation by 1 July 2003.
Has the Minister had any discussions with the Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs on the administration of the millennium partnership fund in the light of his review of the partnership and community group structure?
I assume the next part of the Minister's answer had to do with the action group's recommendations for specific targets for people from disadvantaged backgrounds, mature students and students with a disability. In light of the fact that we are almost half-way through the life of the national development plan, is the Minister happy with the progress made to date following implementation of the recommendations?
I am satisfied that we are making good progress. We need to make more. In response to the Deputy's first question, I have had numerous informal conversations, and, by co-incidence, a formal one earlier today, with the Minister on his proposals about trying to ensure that all the money for social inclusion is well spent.
