The education system here is keeping pace with Ireland's competitors. It is worth noting that the annual competitiveness report 2003 ranks Ireland as first out of 12 countries examined concerning the proportion of science and engineering graduates per 1,000 of the population aged 20 to 34.
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, established on a statutory basis in 2001, is committed to continuous review of curriculum and assessment provision in line with best international practice, and to ensuring that the education system remains a key factor in Ireland's social and economic development. There have been significant curricular reforms in recent years, with new syllabi already implemented in leaving certificate biology, physics and chemistry, implementation of a revised junior certificate science syllabus in the majority of schools in 2003-04 as well as a revised syllabus in science in primary schools from 2003-04. All of these developments are being or have been supported by national inservice programmes for teachers and have been accompanied by significant resourcing over the period 1999 to date.
The range of ICT equipment available to support learning under successive school ICT initiatives at both levels of the system has expanded greatly and includes computers, the Internet, peripheral devices, multimedia, and a range of assistive technologies. Some €140 million has been invested in this area to date, 34,000 teachers have availed of ICT training, all schools are connected to the Internet and the average pupil to computer ratios are now reduced to 12:1 and 9:1 in primary and post-primary schools respectively. In February 2004 a new schools broadband access programme was agreed which will provide for an €18 million industry-Government investment fund to provide high speed broadband connectivity to all first and second level schools. NCCA guidelines for teachers have also been issued providing examples of how children in classrooms around the country are using ICT to add value to their learning with the primary school curriculum.
Within the third level sector, an unprecedented €600 million has been allocated under the programme for research in third level institutions to provide integrated institutional strategies, programmes and infrastructure to build the capacity of the sector to support world class strategic research, innovation and development in Ireland, as well as promoting greater inter disciplinary and inter-institutional co-operation. This has enabled funding to be provided for 33 research centres across many disciplines, 62 new and expanded research programmes have been established, more than 4,000 peer-reviewed publications have been issued, and some 901 post-graduate and 475 post-doctorate researchers have been funded. This investment is supplemented by funds from the HEA block grant, the Irish research councils and from other sources.
The OECD in-depth review of higher education under way is set in the context of assessing the strategic capacity of the third level sector to support lifelong learning and the transition to the knowledge society. My Department is committed to ensuring that Ireland continues to provide a high quality education system which promotes fulfilled personal development, economic competitiveness and social cohesion.