Mr. Tom Boland:

I thank the Chairman for the opportunity to attend today. I am joined by Mr. Muiris O'Connor, head of policy and planning in the Higher Education Authority, HEA. We have provided the committee with a written statement, which I will try to summarise. The HEA fully appreciates the important role the higher education system plays in the economic and social development of Ireland. Particularly given the subject matter of today's discussion, we appreciate the role of the sector in developing Ireland's intellectual resources, especially technological competency and the capacity to innovate.

The responsiveness of the sector to the needs of enterprise generally is well reflected in the breadth of programme provision across higher education from level 6 to level 10 of the national framework of qualifications. As a matter of policy and practice, institutions adapt existing programmes and develop new ones on an ongoing basis in response to student and enterprise demand. All institutions undergo rigorous strategic planning processes involving input from a wide range of stakeholders, including employers. The institutes of technology have a particular role in supporting the business community in tangible and practical ways. Their programmes are closely aligned to the needs of industry. Employers are usually represented on the course development boards.

Without wanting to convey complacency, I believe the higher education system has responded and is responding well to a wide range of skills needs, and has done so down through the years. As a country, however, we need to focus constantly on the outcomes we achieve in the sector and how they address national priorities. It is worth advising some caution. We must not assume that the primary role of the higher education sector is to provide job-ready graduates for enterprise. The danger inherent in that approach is that the skills of our graduates would quickly become obsolete. Given the rapid pace of technological advancement and globalisation within the knowledge economy, the skills needs of industry are continually evolving, particularly in technological domains. The preparation of skilled employees must involve a partnership between higher education and employers. The key requirement of graduates and, consequently, the institutions is core or generic skills in areas such as literacy, numeracy, information processing, communication and creative thinking. The core skills are as important as technical skills or discipline-specific knowledge.

Graduates will also need to forge careers across a range of sectors during their working lives. Therefore, adaptability to change is also a vital quality required of graduates. The role of the employer is to take these graduates and provide them with the next level of education and training appropriate to their industry. The responsiveness of institutions to the evolving skills needs of industry is reflected in academic development and reform through actions such as the increasing modularisation and semesterisation of courses at undergraduate level, leading to greater opportunities for interdisciplinary study. At postgraduate level, the rolling out of structured PhDs and other developments, such as a graduate research education programme, is facilitating the provision of research and soft skills training and the direct involvement of industry partners in programme delivery. The importance of original research and innovation to economic renewal is understood by all in higher education.

The responsiveness of the higher education system is also reflected in the Springboard programmes and the ICT skills conversion programmes. Launched in 2011, Springboard provides higher education opportunities from NFQ levels 6 to 10 on a free-fee basis to unemployed people in areas of employment growth. Building on the success of the 2011 programme, which provided almost 6,000 free places in higher education institutes across the country, the 6,000 places on the 220 courses offered in 2012 will help to address skills deficits across a broad spectrum of enterprise sectors, including ICT and others, as listed in my statement.

I will conclude my opening remarks with specific comments on the three areas of skills needs that the committee identified in its invitation to today's discussion.

With regard to information communications technology, ICT, we recognise the deficit in graduates with high level ICT skills within Ireland and internationally and the importance of these opportunities for the advancement of Ireland’s national enterprise strategy. We are greatly encouraged by the recent trends in the demand for ICT programmes from students and more broadly in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, through the Central Applications Office, CAO, system, and these trends are outlined in more detail in the written submission.

In support of these positive trends, the ICT action plan launched in January 2012 represents a whole-of-government response to addressing the deficit in ICT skills in which the higher education sector is playing a key role. As part of the implementation of the plan, a key target of which is to double the number of ICT graduates by 2018, the ICT skills programme of the HEA is supporting the delivery in partnership with industry of 23 new one-year graduate conversion courses in ICT, providing 818 free places on courses offered by 16 higher education providers. Featuring accredited work placements, these courses are equipping graduates with core computing and programming skills as well as with a range of specialisations in niche areas of growth potential such as cloud computing and web development.

In light of the high demand for places on these courses, I am delighted to inform members, if they are not aware of the development, that at the end of last week, the HEA and the Department of Education and Skills issued a call for proposals for further courses to be provided under the ICT skills programme in 2013. This places a strong emphasis on the quality of industry-academic partnership in the design, development and delivery of programmes. In the context of today's discussion, this is a really positive development.

The HEA’s Springboard initiative, in which one third of all places are on ICT courses, is also having a positive impact on the supply of ICT graduates. To date, there have been 750 graduates from ICT courses at NFQ levels 6 to 9, with a further 2,000 ICT graduates expected before the end of 2012 and during 2013. A review and report on early employment outcomes is under way in respect of those who have graduated thus far and will be available shortly.

On foreign languages, vital importance for the economy of enhancing our skills base in foreign languages is acknowledged but is less well understood in terms of student demand patterns. We have seen modest growth in undergraduate enrolments in foreign languages taken as a single subject in the period between 2007 and 2010 and we understand that modularisation and semesterisation of undergraduate programmes is increasing the opportunities for students across all disciplines to study a foreign language as an accredited part of their degree. The HEA is undertaking research to establish a comprehensive and accurate picture of all foreign language programme provision in Irish higher education. Preliminary results of this research indicate that European languages, as well as Chinese and Japanese, are studied as a component of a very broad range of disciplines across business, the arts, the humanities and the sciences. Rather than being the primary focus of study, they comprise parts of other programmes. The priority will be to mobilise student demand for the language learning opportunities that increasingly are available.

On food production and technology, as indicated in the report by the expert group on future skills needs, Key Skills for Enterprise to Trade Internationally, the food and beverage sector is key to Ireland’s economic growth. This is reflected in the wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate courses in food production and technology that are offered at NFQ levels 6 to 10 across universities and institutes of technology in Ireland. These all have benefitted from the growing demand for science and technology programmes in Irish higher education. In addition, a number of part-time courses in the area are being provided through Springboard 2012, building on the 247 places allocated in 2011. A total of 125 people graduated in the summer of 2012 from Springboard food and beverage courses, with a similar number completing courses and due to graduate before the end of 2012 and during 2013.

To remain reasonably within time, I will truncate my remarks by stating we anticipate the national strategy for higher education, the implementation of which the HEA now is leading, will lead to greater effectiveness overall in the higher education sector and particularly in respect of having the higher education sector deliver on major strategic national objectives. I wish to mention one relevant point. In the concluding paragraph of my written opening statement, I note that engagement, together with teaching as well as learning and research, is one of the three pillars on which the national strategy is based. This is engagement in its widest sense but engagement with enterprise is a key element. Recognising this, within the next week I will appoint from within the HEA's current resources a senior member of staff to take a lead role in enterprise-higher education liaison. The key focus of the role will be to develop an overarching HEA strategy for engagement with specific reference to engagement with the enterprise business sectors to promote proactively the enterprise engagement strategy within the HEA, to support the creation of an enhanced level of understanding of enterprise needs and to promote proactively the enterprise engagement strategy in the higher education system as a whole for the purpose of achieving identified outcomes. I apologise to the Chair if I have overstayed my welcome.