Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 15 December 2022
276. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the initiatives that will be undertaken to promote student mobility North-South and South-North; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63128/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraI would like to assure the Deputy of my commitment to promote student mobility in both directions across the border. While student mobility is taking place on a regular basis, my officials are working with their counterparts in the Departments for the Economy and Health in Northern Ireland on key initiatives, including:
(a) Development of cross-border apprenticeships programmes to address skills needs in the region,;
(b) Provision of Medical Education on an all-island basis;
The Deputy will also be aware that Joint Oireachtas Committee for Education, Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science have recently published a report on student mobility in tertiary education, and have made a number of recommendations to further promote mobility. I welcome this report, and I have asked my officials to progress these.
I also would like to advise the Deputy that, as part of Shared Island Initiative, my Department is working with the Department of Taoiseach and the ESRI to commission the ESRI to undertake more detailed work in this area. This will take place in the first half of 2023.
Finally, at the request of my Department, the HEA have undertaken some preliminary work on recent trends on higher education student mobility. I am heartened that notwithstanding concerns expressed by commentators about the possible impact of Brexit, the number of students coming from Northern Ireland to Irish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) has increased by 51%, from 1,150 in 2017/ 2018 to 1,745 in 2020/ 2021. The corresponding trends for Irish students studying in HEIs in Northern Ireland is much lower than that at 2.3%, with 2,120 in 2017/ 2018 to 2,170 in 2020/ 2021.
