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Further Education and Training Programmes

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 October 2020

Tuesday, 20 October 2020

Questions (104, 492)

Bernard Durkan

Question:

104. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the degree to which he expects to influence the higher education system to ensure the ongoing availability of a steady stream of highly qualified technicians and academics on par with the best in the world, thus providing a workforce competent in the skills now required in the workplace; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31280/20]

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Bernard Durkan

Question:

492. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the extent to which he has observed a shortfall in the number of graduates emerging from third-level in any of the disciplines; if corrective measures may be appropriate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31674/20]

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Oral answers (4 contributions)

This question relates to the likely requirement of a very high level of technical and academic excellence in the future to meet the demands of an increasingly competitive workplace.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 104 and 492 together.

One of the reasons my Department was established was to recognise that there needs to be an interface between the education system at higher education level and industry regional skills fora. Education has a massive value above and beyond economic, of that there is no doubt, but we also need to have a robust higher education system to deliver the jobs of the future and to ensure that Ireland's competitiveness is protected. I genuinely believe the battle in the future is not going to be to locate the factory to the country, rather it is going to be to keep the talent in the country and locate the talent in the country and to ensure people want to come here, study here, learn here and start their career here.

I have had some very good meetings with the regional skills fora in regard to this issue. We need a reboot now with my new Department in terms of how we interface right across the country with businesses, not just multinationals, although that is important, but also with small and medium enterprises. I am on record that we have taken a too narrow and culturally snobby view to higher education, and I believe that. I was encouraged that the Provost of Trinity wrote an op-ed in The Irish Times last week in a similar space. There are many routes for people to get to the career they want. We have just discussed apprenticeships. It is one route. I have met people involved in apprenticeship programmes, where they are getting the education and the practical industry experience that they need.

I hear a lot of talk about climate change and climate action. I share that concern. We want to retrofit hundreds of thousands of homes. We cannot do that unless we have the skills we need to do it. This coming year we are going to try to train 2,000 people in retrofitting skills. There are skills shortages in a variety of areas in this country. Following the Covid pandemic, it is important that we do not just stick on training places for the sake of saying we are doing something, but that we match training places such that people have a decent opportunity of getting a high quality job at the end of it. We need to map out what those jobs in the future look like.

The National Skills Council is due to give me a report soon on the future skills needs of the Irish economy. I will be happy to share that with the Deputy.

In a previous incarnation, I had occasion to visit eastern Europe where great emphasis was placed on technical skills and on polytechnics and it produced very well qualified students. On the report which the Minister is awaiting, I welcome his response in respect of encouraging, through the educational system, the location of jobs with high skill requirements. This needs to continue well into the future. Regardless of whatever else exists, that particular situation, whereby highly skilled people are available to work in a workplace, will always stand to us even in the face of competition. Is the Minister satisfied that we will be able to contend with the competition in the future given the investments that are taking place in all the locations worldwide at the same time?

I am, but we can only manage to maintain our competitiveness if we do not stand still and do not get complacent or too comfortable in terms of where we stand. We have seen great progress in Ireland over the last decade or so. Recent figures from the CSO Measuring Ireland’s Progress 2018 highlighted that Ireland has the highest rate of STEM graduates at 3.2% of population aged 20-29. This is an increase of one place since the 2017 figures and, encouragingly, it is well above the EU average of 1.9%. The report also highlighted that Ireland is third in the EU for those aged 25-34 with third level education and the overall level of education of the population has been rising steadily over time. Total higher graduate enrolments increased 9.2% between 2014-2015 and 2018-2019. There have been steady increases throughout a variety of years based on the figures available in the report.

We need to work on designing the education programmes to fit not just the economic needs at a macro level, but people's individual needs in terms of where they want to get to in life and what careers they want to pursue and how we help them to get there. This is some of the work that my Department needs to do to help design and develop those education programmes and the qualifications. Our universities also have to recognise that not everyone in life can sign up for four years. The person who wants to return to education at 40 or 50 might not be able to drop out of the labour force for two, three or four years. Micro credentials and modular learning are key developments we need as well.

Questions Nos. 105 to 116, inclusive, replied to with Written Answers.
Written Answers are published on the Oireachtas website.
The Dáil adjourned at 1.35 a.m. until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, 21 October 2020.
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