Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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Thank you Deputy for your question. I understand that the UCD Professional Academy is part of University College Dublin (UCD) and has a particular focus on the provision of short industry specific courses.

As the Deputy will be aware, UCD is an autonomous body which is funded in a variety of ways including State grants; competitive funding; tuition fees and commercial/private income streams.

In terms of State grant funding, my Department allocates recurrent grant funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to HEA funded higher education institutions, including UCD. This grant is an allocation towards the ongoing running costs of the institutions and is part of their operating budget alongside other income. The HEA allocates the available funding through their recurrent grant allocation model (RGAM). Internal disbursement of the grant funding, including allocations across faculties or schools is a matter for the institution.

It is open to UCD Professional Academy to enter into partnerships with public sector bodies to provide industry specific training. It is also open to providers to apply for funding calls such as Springboard+ which is managed by the HEA.