Dr. Maria Hinfelaar:

I will come back to the access question and link that with the issue of some students on low points going onto some courses. If we were to examine the intake of the institutes of technology, and as the Chairman pointed out, about half the students in the higher education sector are studying within the institutes of technology, IOT, sector, one would see a spread between AQA right up to 400 or 500 points across a range of discipline areas. Clearly, these things fluctuate because we all know that in terms of the way the system works it is a supply and demand mechanism in one respect.

We bring in students on low points in some areas. The supports structures within the IOT sector are very strong. For instance, all students would normally be assigned an academic mentor. That academic mentor, who is a member of staff in that particular school but not necessarily on the teaching team for that particular student, would meet the student on a regular basis. If there are issues with the student being able to keep up to speed with the course the mentor will try to direct the student towards the supports we have in our institutions. We have learner support units, teaching and learning units and all the other structures such as counselling and access to try to make sure the students do not end up leaving the system. That is a key strength of the institutes.

In addition to that, through the ladder system a number of students who come in on level 6 programmes will exit with a level 6 award and may come back at a later point in time to complete a level 7 or level 8 course. There is that flexibility where students can dip in and out of the system.

We attract a huge number of mature learners who may have done the leaving certificate and not scored highly in terms of points but through recognition of prior learning, RPL, experience they bring in a wealth of other qualities, and we need to value those and give them the recognition for what they bring. It is not a simple, straightforward issue of low points and therefore there will be a problem. That is not necessarily the case; it is more complex than that.