Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 7 Feb 1996

Vol. 146 No. 3

Adjournment Matters. - Post-Graduate Research Grants.

Mr. Cotter

I thank you, a Chathaoirligh, for giving me the opportunity to raise this matter. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, for attending this evening. Although I raised this matter with the Minister for Education, the Minister of State has a responsibility in this regard and I am glad he is present. I have been looking at his long-term objectives and I may find I am pushing an open door on this issue.

I raise this matter because I discovered recently that post-graduate students involved in certain areas of research are paid a grant by Forbairt. The grants are at the same level today as ten years ago — £1,000. In many cases this would represent the sole income of such students. When one considers they could get almost £3,500 on unemployment assistance there is a need to review the level of grants. Many of our brightest post-graduates are leaving Ireland to pursue post-graduate research in order to avail of more financially rewarding opportunities in foreign universities. As a result, the Irish economy loses.

A friend of my family who has studied for the past four years for a primary degree at university and came out every year as the best student in his class, is studying this year at a university in Chicago. He was offered a position there and given about $12,000 for maintenance. Given the situation in Chicago he may find it impossible to return to Ireland. That is only one example from my own experience. From talking to others I know that many of the brightest students do their research in the US, the UK or other European countries. They leave because the opportunities are better abroad. They get more support and the opportunities thereafter appear greater from a financial point of view.

I know the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, is trying to create a modern economy here. Last year he spent a substantial amount on the industrial side. He will agree it is rare that the university research student is discussed in the terms of his remit. The Minister's first concern is to get industry moving to invest more in research and development and he has been successful in that regard. While he is making grant aid available to a couple of hundred companies per year, the amount of expenditure coming from industry into research and development is increasing. However, the level is still unacceptable and we will have to keep working at it. The Minister of State is trying to create a situation where we are comparable to our competitors in Europe. Unless we have good research and development we will not get good added value, be able to protect jobs or be in a position to beat our competitors with new products.

The Minister of State is committed to trying to create an ethos which is innovative, which uses research and development to the fullest and which will make us world leaders eventually if we do it to the best of our ability. However, if we are losing many of our best students to our foreign competitors the economy also loses. I suggest the Minister of State examines the position with regard to the supports available to post-graduate students involved in research.

Some people may be in a better position than others but there are students who have no source of income save the money they get from their parents and money they might earn from the university while doing their research. Many students would get the grant of £1,000 and might make £1,000 from work they do in the university but that would be their total income. They have to pay their fees out of that, which may be up to £1,500 a year. Having spent four years at university to get a good degree and proceeding to do a masters or a doctorate, they are paupers. It is easy for them to accept opportunities abroad and those who can avail of them jump at them.

It is important to try to keep these students in the country, to create a reserve of expertise in Ireland and to let that be known. It would make us a more attractive location for certain industries. The amount of money involved would not be great — Forbairt grant aided about 160 students last year at a cost of £160,000. If that amount were to be multiplied by three it would still be a small sum but students would at least have an amount close to what they could get on unemployment assistance. By next September the Minister might be able to increase the grants to that level.

Universities can also get research funding from various sources, such as the Irish Cancer Society or the Irish Kidney Association. However, the Minister of State has a direct input in this regard and I look forward to his response.

Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise and Employment (Mr. Rabbitte)

Senator Cotter obviously knows a good deal about this subject. Although this matter was put to the Minister for Education and I am present almost by accident, it is a subject dear to my heart and one which I am currently examining in the context of the STIAC report. On behalf of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Allen, who was due to be here this evening, I wish to say that there is an appreciation of the topic of research Senator Cotter has raised.

The importance of research in higher education is underlined in the White Paper on education Charting our Education Future. In the White Paper it is stated that the universities are mainly concerned with the undergraduate and post-graduate degree level programmes together with basic and applied research.

The role of universities as discoverers and disseminators of knowledge sets the context within which links emerge between research and teaching. As Senator Cotter has said, the value of research also reaches into the spheres of technological development and international competitiveness. The higher education sector is a major supplier to research efforts in Ireland. In the period 1982-92, for example, expenditure on research in the higher education sector increased in real terms by over 200 per cent.

On the question of funding the report of the National Education Convention stated that "there would be a general welcome for the development of a more explicit national policy on the funding of research in third level education". In relation to the block grant to the colleges the report stated that "the unified budget which forms the block grant to colleges would provide the basic level of research funding. It is accepted that selectivity would arise in relation to additional funding for which academics would be encouraged to bid".

It would not be possible, however, to divorce from research policy financial assistance to postgraduate students involved in research programmes. In this context the White Paper provides that in moving towards a more explicit policy in relation to research, the Department will take into account the consultancy study in relation to university research and its funding which is being carried out under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority as well as the relevant recommendation made by Science Technology and Innovation Advisory Council — STIAC.

A number of important principles will inform a research policy for the third level sector. The unified teaching and research budget, which forms the block grant to colleges, will be continued; it will provide the basic level of research funding. The role of research in course development and the advancement of knowledge in all disciplines will be recognised. Any additional funding for research will be provided as a separate budget for which competitive bidding will be the norm, with independent assessment of research proposals by international peers. Within the education sector most basic and strategic research will be predominantly in the universities, while the focus of the technological colleges will be on applied, regionally oriented research. The role of research in technological development and international competitiveness will be recognised. The need to develop centres of excellence involving co-operation between institutions and disciplines, particularly in expensive research areas, will be examined.

Within this framework each institution will develop and publish an explicit policy on its approach to research, including the broad balance between research and teaching commitments within disciplines. The policy will also set out the key aims of research activity and the principal criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of research within the institutions.

Funding is also provided for post-graduate students by the Office of Science and Technology through Forbairt, as Senator Cotter said. It provides a grant of £1,000 a year for three academic years for PhD students. At present approximately 170 students benefit under this scheme. There is also a scheme whereby funding is provided for students with master's degrees undertaking research. The funding is provided on a collaborative basis with funding from industry. A sum of £3,500 per year is provided for two years, with 50 per cent provided by Forbairt and 50 per cent provided by industry. Approximately 105 students are currently being funded under this scheme.

As Senator Cotter said, my Office is directly concerned with this matter for all of the good reasons he advanced. There cannot be applied research and a functioning research and development sector — which is so important if we are to grow indigenous industry and encourage foreign companies to put down roots here — unless basic research teaching takes place in the universities and other third level institutions and unless the best students stay in Ireland rather than being sucked abroad by the blandishments to which Senator Cotter referred.

I was able to persuade the Minister for Finance to make £4 million available in the budget for the implementation of some of the priority recommendations of the Tierney report. I have not commented publicly on this yet but I can say, out of respect for this House and the fact that Senator Cotter raised the matter, that it is my intention to increase the stipend before next September. I accept that it is ridiculous to expect PhD students to subsist on £1,000 per annum — they would receive more if they were FÁS trainees or drawing the dole. I know that the situations are not analogous for other reasons, but there are pressures on students. I intend to address that in the very near future. In addition, the programmes for advanced technology in the universities absorb a large number of PhD students who are paid a more respectable stipend for their work.

I hope to be in a position in the very near future to do something significant in this area. I do not doubt that it will not go as far as Senator Cotter or the body representing these students, which recently made a submission to me in this regard, would like. However, I will significantly improve a situation which, as Senator Cotter said, has obtained for the best part of a decade.

Mr. Cotter

The Minister of State said at the beginning of his contribution that he was here by accident. I am delighted that he is here and that changes will happen in the future as a result of our debate this evening. I thank the Minister of State very much.