Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 December 2021
274. 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 physiotherapy 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. [60927/21]
View answer275. 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 physiotherapy 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. [60928/21]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 274 and 275 together.
Data on new entrants and graduates from all physiotherapy related 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 physiotherapy 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 physiotherapy courses.
There is a discrepancy in new entrant and graduate figures, 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.
|
Year |
Course Level |
New Entrants |
Graduates |
|
2017 |
Undergraduate |
131 |
235 |
|
2017 |
Postgraduate |
44 |
45 |
|
2018 |
Undergraduate |
146 |
220 |
|
2018 |
Postgraduate |
43 |
41 |
|
2019 |
Undergraduate |
136 |
228 |
|
2019 |
Postgraduate |
48 |
43 |
|
2020 |
Undergraduate |
139 |
184 |
|
2020 |
Postgraduate |
44 |
44 |
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.
