Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 December 2023
525. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the main policy achievements of his Department since 27 June 2020; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56111/23]
View answerMy Department has made significant changes in the further and higher education, research, innovation and science sectors since its establishment in 2020, and has since seen encouraging progress across these sectors over the past number of years.
With 400,000 people enrolled in learning across further and higher education, the Department is responsible for a sizeable sector. Learning outcomes have a significant influence on people's life paths.
Compared to the EU and OECD averages, Ireland has high levels of higher education attainment.
Below is a list of my Department's policy priorities and achievements over the course of 2023 and information on the Budget for 2024 and the years to follow:
Unified Tertiary System: Work continued on the development of a new Tertiary Education Strategy, as provided for in the Higher Education Authority Act 2022, including through a series of regional dialogue meetings involving all regional actors, to shape and guide policy and ensure the achievement of major cross-Government policy objectives.
My Department established a new National Tertiary Office. For the first time in September 2023, students entered new tertiary programmes outside of the CAO system. Starting their programme in further education, they will progress seamlessly to guaranteed place to complete a fully-accredited degree in higher education.
The Research and Innovation Bill 2023: The Department continued development of a landmark Research and Innovation Bill to amalgamate the functions of Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council into a new Research Agency, to maximise the impact of approximately €300m of national competitive research funding (almost 40% of Government expenditure on R&D).
Impact 2030: The Department is leading a whole of government approach to the implementation of Ireland’s National Research and Innovation strategy, Impact 2030, so as to ensure the national research and innovation system supports key Government strategies such as the White Paper for Enterprise, the Climate Action Plan and Smart Specialisation of regions.
Delivering greater engagement between the research sector and public policy development is a key action in increasing the impact of Ireland's research sector in the evidence base for public policy. The Civil Service Research Network has been established to bring together all Government Departments to improve engagement with higher education researchers. The results of a public consultation on researcher experience with public policy development are under review and will inform an integrated national framework in the early part of 2024
The Department is also continuing to pursue Ireland's application for membership of CERN, which has recently received approval from Government.
European Social Fund: My Department is continuing to lead Irish participation in the European Social Fund, where some €1bn has been drawn down to date.
International Education and Research Strategy: A new international education and research strategy will be published shortly. The Strategy will emphasise the importance of the Shared Island agenda, and the promotion of European and Global Ireland engagements across the spectrum of further education, higher education, skills, research and innovation.
Higher Education Utilising enhanced funding and the Funding the Future reform programme, my Department has worked to drive performance & governance reform and improved outcomes.
2024 saw further expansion in the training of healthcare students, with the creation of over 600 additional healthcare places in disciplines such as medicine, nursing, and speech and language therapy. For the first time ever, this included the Government funding places in universities in Northern Ireland for students from the Republic.
Implementation of the Higher Education Authority Act 2022 continues to be a priority; through this new legislation, we are able to bring additional support to the modernisation of governance and accountability mechanisms.
The implementation of the International Education Mark is also being progressed. This will serve to strengthen Ireland’s reputation as a trusted destination and an educational hub with excellent standards for international learners seeking a high quality education experience.
Enabling Technological Universities: The Department is continuing to support technological universities in their post-establishment phase. In the summer, I announced a €50m fund, the Technological Sector Advancement Fund, to further this work.
Apprenticeship, Further Education and Training & Skills
Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021–25: In 2023, the Department continued to:
- address current backlogs in apprenticeship training and meet future demand projections as set out in the recent report on Skills for Residential Construction and Retrofit.
- deliver on the Public Service Apprenticeship Recruitment Plan demonstrating public service commitment and leadership through increased availability of apprenticeship opportunities across the public sector.
- develop a high-quality single national apprenticeship model embodying greater flexibility and responsiveness to workforce requirements and enterprise needs.
- advance social inclusion measures to aid the apprenticeship population in becoming more representative of wider society.
Further Education and Training (FET): My Department continues to support SOLAS and the ETBs in implementing the FET Strategy: Transforming Learning. The provision of an additional €3m in Budget 2024 will consolidate and expand the progress made across the three core pillars of building skills, fostering inclusion, and facilitating pathways to deliver a more strategic and integrated FET system.
Adult Literacy for Life strategy: €1m was allocated to the 51 successful projects under the Strategy’s Collaboration and Innovation Fund and the National Literacy Coalition and Regional Literacy Coalitions are up and running.
The Prison Education Taskforce launched in May 2023 is pursuing education and training opportunities for prisoners and Budget 2024 provides for €1.5m to drive the work of the Taskforce.
Quality Assurance in FET - The Sectoral Report on the inaugural review of Quality Assurance of FET in the ETB Sector was published in March 2023.
Support for Ukrainians - Since the outbreak of the war, up to end September 2023, 31,980 availed of FET programmes, predominantly English language courses.
Reconfigure Ireland's Skills system
In response to the key recommendations of the OECD Ireland Skills Strategy Review my Department continues to reform the National Skills Council by:
Advancing a NSC with reconfigured membership, to act as a platform for strategic engagement with industry, enterprise community and other non-governmental stakeholders with a strong interest in skills and workforce development policy, facilitating a high-level and broad perspective on skills challenges, policies and priorities, and;
Establishing a High Level Skills Implementation Group (HLIG), intended to deliver the whole-of-government and whole-of-tertiary engagement on national skills policy and delivery, as recommended by the OECD. The HLIG, chaired by DFHERIS, will have a lead role in driving the implementation of the 2023 OECD Skills Strategy Review Recommendations and ownership of skills issues across relevant stakeholders, as has been called out as critically needed in the OECD Report.
The reform is well under way as the first meeting of the HLIG took place on the 27 November 2023 and the inaugural meeting of the reformed NSC is expected to take place in Q1 2024.
National Digital Strategy:
The Department continues to engage on the Skills dimension of the National Digital Strategy.
The Department is working in partnership with the ESRI on a research programme on Irish Skills Requirements.
The first project under the programme examines in-demand skills needs for emerging technologies in key occupations, and is nearly complete.
Construction Skills:
The Dept. progressed work to enact the Construction Safety Licensing Bill, 2023 to enhance certification and regulation of construction sector skills.
It also began work, through the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, on an analysis of the skills for Modern Methods of Construction (MMC), to inform skills provision in 2024 onwards.
In addition, the development of the National Demonstration Park for MMC, based at the National Construction Training Campus in Co. Offaly has been advanced.
We have also seen an enhancement to the range of skills provision for construction, through initiatives such as the joint Laois-Offaly ETB and St. Andrew’s Resource Centre accredited construction skills course, which provides introductory training and links with employers to place graduates in employment.
Green Skills:
The Dept. continued to expand retrofit training through the programmes offered by the network of NZEB/Retrofit Centres of Excellence, with record numbers of students enrolling in 2023.
It is leading, with DECC and in collaboration with Wind Energy Ireland, on the skills responses required for the development of Ireland’s offshore wind industry, including through the establishment of a skills work stream as part of the cross-government Offshore Wind Energy Programme, and undertaking a detailed skills assessment report.
We have taken action to develop the skills required for the maintenance of electric vehicles, including through the announcement of the future development of a national e-mobility capability centre by Longford-Westmeath ETB in Mullingar.
Housing for All: We have progressed work to enact the Construction Safety Licensing Bill, 2023 to enhance certification and regulation of construction sector skills.
Adult Career Guidance:
In line with the recommendations of the Indecon Review of Lifelong guidance report and the OECD Ireland Skills Strategy Review (2023) which have identified the need to increase the navigability of the skills ecosystem, my Department set up an Oversight Group for a Single Portal for Career Guidance and Information.
The aim of the group was to provide advice on the next steps to support the establishment of a single portal/one stop information resource in relation to all tertiary learning options by my Department.
The work of the Oversight Group concluded in October 2023 with a comprehensive report outlining the recommended approach to the development of a Career Guidance and Information Portal and I am now considering its findings.
Access
The Department has continued to develop the national access plan to help underrepresented groups to gain access to Higher Education.
PATH 1: Three centres (MU, DCU, and UCC) requested additional once-off bridging funding totalling €347,549 to maintain project activities for the 2023/24 academic year. In addition, three centres (NISE, DCU, and UCD/NCAD) were approved no-cost extensions up until 2024 and 2025.
PATH 2: The rollout of ESF assisted funding means we have increased the number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 bursaries from 373 to 600 for the 23/24 academic year, comprising of 400 Tier 1 at €5000 and 200 Tier 2 at €2500 each. A centralised application system for these bursaries has been approved and rolled out this year.
Path 4: Phase 1. An additional €1.8m has been provided for the rollout and implementation of Universal Design across the HEIs. This in in addition to the $3m already provided.
Path 4: Phase 2. A call for proposals for courses for people with Intellectual disabilities has been completed and final assessment is underway. This will be completed by the Expert panel shortly.
Mental Health: An additional €3m has been provided in funding this year
Student Assistance Fund: An extra €8.54m has been provided this year to the SAF fund.
Ukrainian SAF: I have again approved €300,000 this year which is dedicated to the Ukrainian SAF
Pathfinder Programmes: We continued to implement the Energy Efficiency and Decarbonisation Pathfinder Programme for the Higher Education Sector to test decarbonisation approaches, build capability, provide an evidence base and establish a pathway for a large-scale building decarbonisation programme as well as development of an equivalent programme for FET in 2023.
Student Accommodation: In the area of Student Accommodation, the Dept. continued to prioritise both short term solutions and longer term measures, including through commitment of funding where appropriate. The Development of Technological University Capacity to borrow from the Housing Finance Agency and others to fund student accommodation is also being supported.
Capital Programme
Four programmes, with a combined funding envelope of €395 million to 2025, are being progressed:
• a Technological Sector Strategic Projects Fund focused on investments that provide essential additional capacity and strengthen the role of Technological Universities as drivers of regional development
• a second round of the Higher Education Strategic Infrastructure Fund, which is open to all higher education institutions and will co-fund strategic projects to a maximum of 50%
• a FET College of the Future Major Projects Fund, which will support projects that can help drive reform of the FET sector, including consolidation of provision in high quality facilities, integration of further education and training, realisation of centres of excellence, and unified tertiary planning
• a Strategic Infrastructure Upgrade Fund, which will support smaller-scale investments in existing FET infrastructure, ensuring that works are progressed within the context of an overall strategic plan for the building and aligned with FET College of the Future principles
Delivery on NDNA Commitments
Support for Northern Ireland Higher Education student mobilities.
€2.4 million has been allocated by DFHERIS to support HE students in NI to avail of mobilities and internships across Europe. Following detailed engagement with DFHERIS, QUB and UU have each been allocated €1 million each, while St Mary’s University College and Stranmillis University College was allocated €70k and €50k respectively. Further allocation (estimated at €153k) will be made to the Regional Colleges within the next week.
Co-centres Programme
The Co-Centres programme takes forward an Irish Government commitment in the Programme for Government and under the New Decade, New Approach Agreement to establish all-island research and innovation hubs, working with partners in NI and the wider UK. The programme is jointly funded up to €70 million by Science Foundation Ireland, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in NI (DAERA) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and will focus on Climate/ Biodiversity and Water, and Co-Centre for Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems.
HE Funding and Student Supports
In 2023 and into 2024, €192 million will be provided to higher education including €60
million in core funding to address student staff ratios, plus a further €35 million to address pay shortfalls.
In addition to the above, the recent Budget announcements also saw positive developments for this sector. These include:
- A €1,000 reduction in the student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for the free fees initiative. When taken together with the new €500 student contribution grant the student contribution fee will be halved to €1,500 for eligible families with a household income of between €62,000 and €100,000.
- An increase to the Postgraduate Fee Contribution Grant from €4,000 to €5,000.
- A once-off reduction of 33 percent in the contribution fee for apprentices in higher education.
- A further €8.1 million investment in the Student Assistance Fund for the 2023/24 academic year bringing the total to over €17 million.
- The removal of Post Leaving Cert (PLC) fees from September 2024
-An increase to all non-adjacent maintenance rates by €615 and adjacent maintenance rates by 10% from September 2024, with a pro-rata increase effective from January 2024.
- The full restoration of student maintenance grants for post graduates from September 2024 for the first time since the financial crash. A pro-rata increase will also be effective from January 2024.
- From September 2024, student contribution fees will be abolished for all incomes under €55,924. For the first time ever, this will include students on specified undergraduate part time/part-time online courses. In addition, maintenance grants will be available to households with incomes up to €50,840 (up from €46,790).
- Renters’ tax credit is being extended to parents who pay for student children’s rent in the case of Rent a Room accommodation or “digs”. This change will also apply retrospectively for the years 2022 and 2023
Budget 2024 saw a budget of €4.148 billion for the Department of Further and Higher
Education, Research, Innovation and Science including:
- funding of € 4.1 million to increase the number of medicine places.
- funding to support the National Tertiary Office in expanding the number of joint degree programmes outside the CAO.
- funding of €67 million for continued growth of apprenticeship from 13,000 places in 2022 to over 16,000 places in 2024, helping boost skills development.
- the start of a new scheme to help employers with the cost of upskilling and reskilling staff.
