Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 10 December 2020
325. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the degree to which he expects to generate increased interest in the technical side of education in order to ensure the ready availability of a highly-qualified workforce in preparation for an increasingly competitive workplace market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42828/20]
View answer327. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of third-level places available academic and technical places available for students in each of the past five years to date; the extent to which changes are likely in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42830/20]
View answer329. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the extent to which adequate places have been available in the current years for students pursuing academic or technical courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42832/20]
View answer336. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of places available for third and fourth-level students in the technical and academic sectors currently; his proposals to improve on this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42839/20]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 325, 327, 329 and 336 together.
The distinction between academic and technical courses is not one used by my Department. Figures on enrolments by subject area for the years 2014 - 2018 is available in the attached table. 2018 is the latest year for which this data is available.
This year more students than ever before were offered a place in higher education with more than 49,000 accepting an offer of a place. These places will be maintained next year, and €18 million has been provided in Budget 2021 to deliver an additional 2,700 new undergraduate student places from September 2021. This increase will address demographic growth pressures and equates to an overall investment of nearly €80 million to address the demographic increases since 2018. These places are in addition to the 1,330 additional places commencing in 2021, funded through the Human Capital Initiative Pillar 2, which will be on undergraduate courses in areas of identified skills needs.
There are a number of key strategies in place at all levels to ensure we meet existing and future skills demands. These include policies designed to ensure a pipeline of suitably qualified science and technical graduates, and initiatives to equip young people and the working population more generally with the skills and capacity to meet these demands. .
These strategies and initiatives include: the National Skills Strategy 2025; Technology Skills 2022; Springboard+; the Human Capital Initiative and the July Stimulus package.
Under Pillar 2 of the Human Capital Initiative 3,000 undergraduate places are being created in Key Skills areas such as Science, Engineering, ICT and Professional Construction. 1,415 of these places were brought on stream for the 2020 academic year, with the remainder to follow in 2021.
Future Jobs Ireland, which was launched in March 2019 is a new whole-of Government plan to secure Ireland’s economic success. A key element of Future Jobs Ireland is to support business, invest in the development of people and to enhance skills and develop and attract talent to ensure our education and training system is responsive to enterprise needs. We must ensure that we have accessible upskilling options and that our education and training providers offer relevant and up-to-date courses which meet the needs of enterprises and workers.
Springboard+ runs an annual call in order to be in a position to provide the most up to date skills needs courses responding to advances in technology that are impacting the future world of work. For instance, the 2020 offering of Springboard courses included, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Governance.
In general HE institutions are constantly reviewing and updating their course curriculum in collaboration with enterprise to ensure that undergraduate and taught postgraduate course content is reflecting emerging trends in the future world of work and Industry 5.0.
My Department will continue to align our further and higher education policies with what is required in the workplace. We will do this by working with industry to address current needs and, looking beyond the current world of work, by equipping individuals with the skills they need to succeed in the changing labour market.
I am satisfied that these and other important elements of my Department’s strategies, developed in collaboration with key stakeholders, will help ensure that we are well prepared to meet our skills needs including the scientific needs of the economy.
Enrolments in Higher Education, by subject area, 2014 to 2018
|
Subject Area |
2014/2015 |
2015/2016 |
2016/2017 |
2017/2018 |
2018/2019 |
Change 2014 - 2018 |
|
Business, administration and law |
40,086 |
42,612 |
42,643 |
44,876 |
47,876 |
19% |
|
Health and Welfare |
35,820 |
36,661 |
37,543 |
38,634 |
39,645 |
11% |
|
Arts and Humanities |
34,142 |
34,340 |
35,184 |
35,313 |
34,153 |
0% |
|
Engineering, manufacturing and construction |
23,439 |
24,101 |
24,154 |
24,830 |
25,490 |
9% |
|
Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics |
21,433 |
21,761 |
21,949 |
22,317 |
22,751 |
6% |
|
Information and Communcation Technologies (ICTs) |
14,164 |
14,649 |
14,830 |
14,677 |
14,546 |
3% |
|
Social sciences, journalism and information |
12,103 |
12,497 |
12,168 |
12,280 |
12,975 |
7% |
|
Education |
11,521 |
12,994 |
13,323 |
14,509 |
15,606 |
35% |
|
Services |
10,748 |
10,891 |
10,688 |
10,436 |
9,205 |
-14% |
|
Agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary |
3,732 |
3,649 |
3,662 |
3,795 |
3,893 |
4% |
|
Generic programmes and qualifications |
2,134 |
2,448 |
2,099 |
2,076 |
2,363 |
11% |
|
Total |
209,322 |
216,603 |
218,243 |
223,743 |
228,503 |
9% |
