Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 February 2023
452. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the number of additional places that are planned to come on stream in further and higher education facilities in the 2023/2024 academic year to study speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology; in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7010/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department does not place a cap on places in speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy and psychology programmes. The information sought by the Deputy for 2023/2024 is not available.
As the Deputy may be aware, Higher Education Institutions are autonomous bodies within the meaning of the Universities Act 1997, the Institutes of Technology Acts 1992 to 2006, and the Technological Universities Act 2018 . As such they are autonomous in relation to their administrative and academic affairs, and the courses offered by any institution, and the level at which they are offered, are a matter for the individual institutions to determine.
The Higher Education Authority is currently running a process to identify where further additional capacity could be built in the higher education sector in a number of healthcare areas namely Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Nursing. It is the intention that further such processes for other disciplines will be run later in the year.
