I welcome the Minister of State. I appreciate that the Minister for Education and Science is abroad at present. The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, needs to meet his Northern counterpart to discuss some students' lack of access to certain supports. Bursaries and other forms of financial assistance are not available to students from the Republic. That is a cause of serious hardship for many of my constituents. I am a three-time graduate of the University of Ulster, Jordanstown. I was one of those students who availed of free fees in the North before a similar regime was brought into effect here. It seems that questions are being asked about the reintroduction of fees in the Republic.
It is traditional for people in my constituency to attend their local third level institution. While Letterkenny Institute of Technology is very good, many people choose to study at the various University of Ulster campuses — Magee, Coleraine, Jordanstown and Belfast — or at Queen's University Belfast.
I recently received a letter from Sir Reg Empey stating that the significant difficulties which have developed since the new situation in the North started to evolve are to be examined. I am concerned that the examination will focus solely on the students from that jurisdiction. The difficulties being encountered by students from the Republic who attend colleges in the North need to be addressed too. In his letter, Sir Reg Empey mentioned that variable tuition fees were introduced in Northern Ireland in September 2006 to provide higher education institutions with much-needed additional revenue. The authorities in the North are trying to get more people to attend the colleges in question.
Sir Reg Empey's letter goes on to say, "At the same time, enhanced student support arrangements, including access bursaries, provided by higher education institutes were introduced to mitigate the impact of student fees on less well off students." He has just completed the second academic year of the new arrangements and has made clear his commitment to review variable tuition fees and student finance, which is due to commence in the 2008-09 academic year. Therefore, it is very opportune that our Minister for Education and Science would speak to the equivalent Minister, not necessarily the Minister for Education because it seems to be devolved to the Minister for Employment and Learning, to outline our concerns to address the deficit that appears to exist for our students and to clarify whether students going from the Republic of Ireland to the North qualify for these bursaries and extra supports within student hardship schemes.
There are mixed messages. I defy anyone to read some of the documentation on the web. The University of Ulster website says one is classified as a "home" student for fee purposes if one meets all the following criteria: one is "settled" in the UK, has been ordinarily resident within the UK for the previous three years and while one was there one was not there just to receive full-time education. It then goes on to say, "Other groups of students who do not meet the immigration and residence conditions in the UK and Islands but who will be assessed as Home-EU students for fee purposes" include students from the EU. My problem is that students are getting the impression they are not eligible to apply for bursaries or hardship schemes because they come from the Republic. I would like clarification on whether they are entitled to it, and if they are, I would be interested to know the numbers of students availing of this and whether there are difficulties with particular colleges.
This is about trying to keep our graduates in our area. I want Ulster graduates to remain in Ulster if they can. I have no objection to their coming to the universities in the Republic, but we do not want them to fly to Scotland, which many of them do because Scotland has absorbed the fee issue. Yesterday at Stormont I raised this issue with most of the political parties and I have had feedback already in that the chair of the education committee there wants to deal with this issue which they also see as important. I will return to talk to them, not only as a person interested in the topic but also as a person on the education committee in this jurisdiction. However, this must be driven at ministerial level. There are new ideas about fees. Much learning has taken place in the North and I would like to think we can learn from them. We must also ensure our students are given as much support as possible.
A student of whom I am aware must pay £3,145 per year for three years. She cannot get a grant because she is not more than 15 miles from the college. Her parents are on illness benefit. She is not entitled to the top-up grant because it is not a long-term benefit. The loan is the only help she can get. Another student has graduated from the University of London and has gone on to do a masters in the King's College because it is a specialised course and is not offered here. She is one of a very small number of people qualifying and is a credit to her country, yet she can get no help.
I appreciate the Minister of State taking this matter. I hope she can give me some enlightenment. If not, I hope she can bring clarity to the issue and encourage the Minister to do as I ask and talk to his Northern colleague on this issue of most importance to our students.
