Vol. 521 No. 1
298 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will intervene on behalf of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 2 and have financial assistance made available for her MBA programme in healthcare services in view of the circumstances outlined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16662/00]
The person to whom the Deputy refers is pursuing a two-year part-time post-graduate course – the MBA in health services management at the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business, UCD, in conjunction with the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Financial assistance is available to students in respect of attendance at approved post-graduate courses under the higher education grants scheme and the vocational education committees' scholarships scheme, which are administered by the local authorities and vocational education committees respectively.
An approved course at postgraduate level must be a full-time course which is of not less than one year's duration and must be pursued in one of the institutions approved for the purposes of the schemes.
As the student to whom the Deputy refers is pursuing a postgraduate course on a part-time basis she is ineligible to receive financial assistance under the terms of the third level student support schemes. As the schemes are of general application it is not possible to make an exception on behalf of an individual candidate.
