Yes, I would like to say a few words, Chairman, thank you very much. In relation to the comments made by the Comptroller and Auditor General, it is necessary to go back a little over some of the things which happened in the past. The college became autonomous in 1993 and had some difficulties in the transition period at that time. The Comptroller and Auditor General has made reference to some of the issues that arose and, from having student enrolments of around 1,500 in the 1993-4 academic year, the numbers reduced to just over 1,200 for the three subsequent years. As was also pointed out, the numbers have recovered dramatically in the past three years where we now have around 1,900 full-time students in the college. It has gone up from 1,550 in 1997-8 to over 1,700 last year and up to 1,900 this year, so we have recovered very well in that respect.
As to the contributing factors to that turnaround, the commission was put in place for two years and then as director for his final year in Letterkenny and the return of the governing body. We had investment of up to £12 million by the Department of Education and Science in the college's infrastructure and capital developments. We have also expanded our course provision from an institute where we would have primarily had certificate and diploma programmes. In September of this year we will have on offer eight degree programmes within the institute, one of which will be an ab initio degree programme which, hopefully, will be able to attract some students from Northern Ireland, an issue which has already been brought up this morning.
Our continuing education programme has also expanded with over 500 students at present. Again we are involved in relating to the skills shortage programmes brought forward by the skills initiative unit, particularly the national certificate in information technology for which we have had very good enrolments over the last while.
The employment of graduates locally is also an issue of which we are very proud. Traditionally there has been a migration of students or graduates from the Donegal area to other parts of the country. Our figures show that, in the last two years, the county has retained up to 40% of our graduates who have found employment. We would see this as a very important development from our point of view.
Also, in terms of our own enrolment, we are taking a large percentage of our students from the county. Up to 70% of our students are from County Donegal. Over 70% of them are first preference students so we would see that we have regained the confidence of our region and we are addressing that at the moment.
We have also made strides in terms of research and development and in developing the local economy. It is a well-known fact that Donegal has gone through more difficulties than others recently and has an unemployment rate of around 22% compared to the national average of about 5% to 6%. The institute sees itself as a major player in terms of turning the economy around and has participated in the recent Donegal employment initiative task force. We are looking at initiatives in which we can improve the attraction of foreign direct investment into County Donegal and also that we can provide further employment in the county for our graduates.
