Holly Cairns
Question:122. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the steps he is taking to reform the SUSI application process. [26396/23]
View answerThursday, 1 June 2023
Questions (122)
Written answers
The Student Grant Scheme is administered by the centralised national grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) on behalf of my Department.
SUSI regularly reviews their systems, processes and service to identify improvements in service delivery and have made significant strides in this regard in recent years. This can be seen evidenced through, for example, the development of an online student portal and a centralised online system for the swift and consistent assessment of grant applications. Data sharing agreements with government bodies such as the Department of Social Protection, Revenue Commissioners and CAO have supported the delivery of a streamlined application process and have reduced the need for students to send documentation to SUSI. The launch of SUSI’s new website has also driven awareness of student funding by giving students access to key information and the addition of the eligibility indicator means students can quickly check if they might be eligible for funding. These continuous improvements outlined above have contributed to SUSI’s ability to meet and exceed the key performance indicators within the Management Framework Agreement (MFA) with my Department. In the academic year 2022/23, the mean time for the initial assessment of an application was within two weeks, with the time being within one week for assessment of returned documentation.
As the Deputy may be aware, a review was commissioned into SUSI, which focused on structural changes to the Scheme itself, rather than the application process. My Department is committed to continually reviewing the Scheme with a view to enhancing it and to working with SUSI to ensure that it is as accessible for students as possible.