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Third Level Education

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021

Thursday, 9 December 2021

Questions (270, 271)

David Cullinane

Question:

270. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of approved undergraduate places, first year intake, and final year graduates, graduate output, for psychology and occupational therapy in each of the past five years in tabular form; his plans for increasing graduate output in this field; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60923/21]

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David Cullinane

Question:

271. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of approved postgraduate places, first year intake, and final year graduates, graduate output, for psychology and occupational therapy in each of the past five years in tabular form; his plans for increasing graduate output in this field; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60924/21]

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Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 270 and 271 together.

Data on new entrants and graduates from all Psychology and Occupational Therapy courses between from 2017 to 2020 are available in the table below. Due to the way new entrants are recorded, undergraduate new entrants refer to full-time students only. There is no quota placed on occupational therapy or psychology courses by my Department, and therefore the places offered are a matter for the higher education institutions, in line with their autonomy. However due to need to provide clinical placements involved there are material constraints on the number of students that can be accepted onto occupational therapy courses.

There is a discrepancy in new entrant and graduate figures in occupational therapy, with a higher number of graduates from undergraduate courses than there are new entrants for that cohort. This is due to a partnership between Trinity College Dublin and Nanyang Polytechnic in Singapore. Students from Nanyang Polytechnic complete three years of their degree in their home institution, and the final year in Trinity College. They are therefore counted among the graduates for that year, but never appear in the new entrant figures.

The data below is take from the HEA's Student Records System, and therefore includes students enrolled in HEA-funded institutions.

Table 1: Psychology

Year

Course Level

New Entrants

Graduates

2017

Undergraduate

433

592

2017

Postgraduate

625

577

2018

Undergraduate

490

586

2018

Postgraduate

563

541

2019

Undergraduate

572

560

2019

Postgraduate

641

701

2020

Undergraduate

609

714

2020

Postgraduate

804

651

Table 2: Occupational Therapy

Year

Course Level

New Entrants

Graduates

2017

Undergraduate

92

120

2017

Postgraduate

30

27

2018

Undergraduate

96

142

2018

Postgraduate

31

33

2019

Undergraduate

102

131

2019

Postgraduate

35

30

2020

Undergraduate

97

97

2020

Postgraduate

31

29

The matter of health workforce planning and ensuring an appropriate pipeline of qualified healthcare workers within Ireland, is a major priority for my Department. The Programme for Government commits the Department of Health to working with the education sectors, regulators, and professional bodies to improve the availability of health professionals and reform their training to support integrated care across the entire health service. My Department and I are continuing to engage with the Department of Health and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that we can continue to deliver graduates with the skills necessary to support our healthcare system and support the strategic workforce planning by the health sector.

Question No. 271 answered with Question No. 270.
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