Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 May 2021
321. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the degree to which higher education has embraced innovation as a means to enhance the cutting edge of higher education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27408/21]
View answerOur society and the world of work are changing rapidly, and if anything, this will be accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our Higher Education Institutions will have an important role in equipping us to manage this change. This will entail agility and innovation in how those institutions operate.
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.
Over the past three years the Department, through the Higher Education Authority and the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, has invested over €33 million in targeted innovation and enhancement initiatives across the higher education sector. National and local initiatives have included those focused on topics such as enhancing digital teaching and learning, entrepreneurship, curriculum innovation, simulation-based learning, and enterprise-academic partnerships. The HEA’s 2018 Innovation and Transformation Fund and the National Forum’s 2019 and 2020 Strategic Alignment of Teaching and Learning Enhancement (SATLE) Fund have ensured Irish teaching and learning remains at the forefront of innovation and future-focused education in Europe.
With respect to the pandemic, although institutional closures were unforeseen, much of the work of the sector in the years leading to 2020 enabled and empowered the higher education community to respond in an informed and cohesive manner to the unexpected situation in which it found itself. Robust and relevant knowledge and experience had been developed which was transferred, re-purposed and re-imagined as necessary when the context of teaching and learning was suddenly transformed. The sector was in a far more advanced state with respect to assessment and technology-enhanced learning than it would have been had the crisis taken place some years previously. Local and national knowledge and understanding on these key topics had been built, informed by research and by the sharing of practice and expertise. Teaching and learning staff became the frontline workers of higher education.
The pandemic has taught us how quickly circumstances can change and the need for those who teach and those who learn to be confident in their knowledge and skills and supported in adapting their abilities to a variety of circumstances. With this in mind, the 2020 SATLE Fund focused on providing an opportunity for institutions to reflect on what they had learned in 2020 and consider what this meant for the future of education across face-to-face, blended, online and remote teaching and learning contexts. Funding allocated to institutions aligned with local needs and empowered institutions to take a strategic and cooperative step forward, focusing on topics such as innovative assessment practices, micro-credentials, learning analytics, and digital futures.
The Human Capital Initiative, which was announced by the Government in Budget 2019, is an initiative that provides a €300m investment of National Training Fund monies to enable our Higher Education system to respond more rapidly to the changes and challenges we face.
Pillar 3 of the initiative is focused on the core principle of embedding innovation and agility across a wide spectrum of undergraduate and postgraduate provision. A total budget of €206 million over a 5-year period has been provided to higher education institutions or groups of institutions to develop projects with potential application and impact across the full higher education system.
Twenty-two projects developing innovative, and responsive models of programme delivery, are underway. These projects will boost the higher education systems ability to respond rapidly to changes in both skills requirements and technology. The projects are aligning innovation and agility with national strategic objectives, key system objectives for the higher education system, and future skills needs for society and the economy.
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. Programmes recommended for funding under Springboard+ 2021 will continue to be delivered in a flexible manner ensuring that courses are open to participants regardless of their geographical location.
In July 2020, as part of the Government’s announcement on the July stimulus package, additional funding was provided for Higher Education skills-related programmes. This included an allocation for the provision of shorter, more focused courses/modules which could be offered in a flexible manner and allow people to gain important skills without taking a considerable period away from the labour market.
