Written Answers. - Third Level Education.
Trevor Sargent
Ceist:
207
Mr. Sargent
asked the
Minister for Education and Science
if his attention has been drawn to the report of the action group on access to third level education; and the plans he has to implement the 78 recommendations contained therein.
[10453/03]
The action group's report was published in July 2001. Responsibility for implementation of many of these recommendations lies with my Department. Some recommendations require action on the part of other Departments. On a wider level, the recommendations call for action on the part of third level institutions, schools and community and voluntary groups.
To date a number of measures have been taken by my Department in response to the main recommendations in the report. The most significant spending recommendation of the group concerned the introduction of special rates of maintenance grants for disadvantaged students, commonly referred to as top-up grants. These recommendations were introduced, with retrospective effect, from the 2000-01 academic year.
Following a review early in 2002, I increased the annual income threshold for the special rates by 32%. For 2002-03, I also increased the special rate of grant to €4,000 for students residing more than 15 miles from college and to €1,600 for students residing within 15 miles of college. This is equivalent to a "top-up" of €1,490 and €596 respectively, for eligible students, on the ordinary maintenance grant. As a result of the review, it is expected that the number of students qualifying for the "top-up" grant in 2002-03 will double to 7,000 students.
A new millennium partnership fund for disadvantage was introduced with effect from 2001. The fund provides assistance for partnership companies and community groups to develop their support schemes for students from disadvantaged families. Area Development Management, ADM, Limited, under whose aegis the partnerships operate, administered the fund for the 2001-02 academic year. The total allocation for the 2001-02 academic year was €1.2 million, with 37 partnerships and community groups receiving allocations from the fund. For 2002-03, I increased the provision for the fund to €2 million. ADM Limited, which is continuing to administer the fund, has notified 50 area partnerships and community groups of their allocations in respect of the 2002-03 academic year.
The report of the action group on access to third level education sets out a co-ordinated framework of actions required to improve equity of access to third level. The group considered that a single co-ordinating body was essential in order to realise the framework. Accordingly, a key recommendation of the group was that a national office for equity of access to higher education be established to ensure the effective implementation of many of the recommendations in the report.
I have given approval for the establishment of the national office for equity of access to higher education, within the Higher Education Authority. My Department is engaged in discussions with the Higher Education Authority with a view to bringing the national office into operation in time for the academic year 2003-04. I anticipate that the national office will facilitate the aim of increasing third level access by the three target groups, in partnership with my Department, the third level institutions and other stakeholders and agencies.
The action group recommended that the various interventions at early childhood, primary and second level to address disadvantage be reviewed by the educational disadvantage committee. To date the work of the committee has addressed many issues related to the integration and cohesion of service provision to students in greatest need. In addition, the outcomes from the educational disadvantage forum have clearly signalled the need for an integrated and comprehensive policy framework for educational inclusion and for more coherent structures to be established, at both policy and operational levels. A report on the deliberations and discussions of the forum has recently been presented to me.
Some of the action group's recommendations relate to the achieving of targets for access to third level education, over the period of the national development plan, in relation to students from disadvantaged backgrounds, mature students and students with a disability.
I am committed to progressing these, and other, recommendations in the report of the action group on access to third level education and to ensuring that the issue of equity of access to third level education remains a priority during my tenure of office as Minister for Education and Science. In this context, the Deputy will wish to be aware that when the current Government first came into office in 1997, spending on third level access measures totalled €508,000. In 2002, this had risen to €23.98 million which represents, by any standards, a quantum leap in committed resources. The 2003 provision is €26 million.
My Department is also conducting a review of student support provisions aimed at ensuring that the benefits of the substantial investment being made are maximised. Some of the issues being examined, such as the reform of student supports, are issues in relation to which the action group on access to third level education made a number of recommendations.
