Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2024
121. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the actions he has taken to increase funding and resources for disability supports including mental health supports in third level institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2091/24]
View answerAn inclusive higher education system is a national and European priority. Inclusion is one of the six strategic goals set out in my Department’s Statement of Strategy and our National Access Plan identifies students with a disability including students with an intellectual disability as a group who are underrepresented in higher education.
Since the launch of the plan I have taken a number of measures to increase supports for students with a disability in higher education including:-
• The average annual allocation of the Fund for Students with a Disability funding to the higher education sector is in the region of €7.6 million. I have increased the fund for 2024 by 5% to over €8 million.
• Universal Design measures have been progressed with 19 institutions receiving a total of €3m in funding in 2022 to support projects.
• A call for proposals to enhance provision for students with an intellectual disability has recently closed and I will be announcing the details of successful projects in the next number of weeks.
• A new part time fees scheme will be introduced from September 2024 to provide fee support to eligible part-time students attending specified publicly funded undergraduate courses leading to a major award. This is an important new initiative which will open the doors of higher education to many groups who could not participate in full-time programmes.
The mental health and wellbeing of students is a priority for me and my Department, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic which has brought increased stress and anxiety levels for students.
My Department has progressed a number of initiatives, in partnership with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), over the last few years to address the broad spectrum of mental health and wellbeing issues faced by students, including:
• Mental Health and Well-being funding supports
• Healthy Campus Charter and Framework
• Student and Learner Wellbeing and Engagement Working Group
• National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework
€2 million in core funding is provided annually to address student mental health and wellbeing in higher education. This is allocated by the HEA to HEIs through the Recurrent Grant Model (RGAM).
As autonomous bodies, the internal disbursement of this funding, including the funding of their student services, the employment of counselling staff, and the procurement of counselling and mental health services are a matter for the individual institutions.
In 2020, 2021, 2022 & 2023, an additional €3m making a total of €5 million was allocated to the higher education institutions to support student mental health and wellbeing. In 2022 an additional €900,000 was made available for supporting Ukrainian students registered in Irish HEIs and who are in Ireland under a temporary Section 60 order.
This funding has been used to help HEIs in support of specific student-facing areas, such as:
Recruitment of additional Student Counsellors
Recruitment of additional Assistant Psychologists
Head of Service posts
Training staff to enable them to support and refer students to appropriate services
Raising awareness among students of mental health and wellbeing services available, including through student outreach activities.
