Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 22 Jun 1999

Vol. 506 No. 5

Written Answers. - Educational Projects.

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

227 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Education and Science if his attention has been drawn to the implications of diverting all advanced technical skills funding to information technology courses for the training of core competencies in the exploration, exploitation and management of marine resources. [15755/99]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. Martin)

The advanced technical skills programme is one element of the human resources operational programme of the Community Support Framework 1994-99. This programme provides advanced level training for graduates in order to enhance the relevance of their qualifications to the needs of the labour market and to meet the skill needs of industry at the highest level. The over-riding aim of the programme is to provide courses which are clearly relevant to sectoral economic development. The programme is run in the universities and in the Dublin Institute of Technology and receives assistance from the European Social Fund.

The mid-term evaluation of this operational programme by Goodbody consultants, highlighted a number of concerns relating to the ATS programme and the ESRI, in its Mid-Term Evaluation of the CSF 1994-99, recommended that public funding be reduced for the ATS. The level of financial support, including ESF aid, for the ATS programme was subsequently reduced for the remaining period of the programme. The funding available for this programme in 1999 will be fully expended on the courses approved for the 1998-99 academic year.

As the Deputy will be aware, the bulk of courses included under the ATS programme in recent years were targeted at IT skills related courses in response to the critical need for graduates to meet the needs identified with the high levels of employment growth in the IT skills area. In response to the needs identified in the report of the expert group on future skills needs, under the chairmanship of Dr. Chris Horn, in relation to the provision of graduate conversion courses, arrangements are being put in place to expand the number of IT skills related conversion courses which will be available for 1999-2000.

There were a small number of aquaculture-marine related courses included under the ATS programme. The position in relation to these and other university courses that were previously funded under the ATS programme is that these courses revert to being funded from the general allocation available to the Higher Education Authority, in the normal manner. The technology foresight report on natural resources identified a range of horizontal and specific technologies for the year 2015 and argued for sustained public and private investment in all aspects of marine S and T, which would,inter alia, focus on support for targeted education, training, R and D and support infrastructures in the marine sector. The issue of further support for post-graduate education and training as a response to the economy's identified needs will be considered in the context of the National Development Plan 2000-06.