Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

It is €700 million in third level academic institutions and it is approximately €300 million in foreign English language schools. A note I have, which is fairly up to date, states that there are 32,000 students registered in Irish higher education institutions, including international students on Irish programmes overseas. These would include the Royal College of Surgeons and colleges in different parts of world where students are taking an Irish course outside this country. The total number of students is 32,000. This represents a 9% increase on 2009-10 figures. This 9% increase takes account of a number of aspects. First, there has been a significant increase in the number of Erasmus exchanges in short-term student courses, including US students on junior years abroad. I will deal separately with the qualifications issue raised by Senator Moran. Second, there is a significant increase in PhD registrations and PhD students in Ireland now account for 20% of all full-time international students. There has been a significant growth in offshore study by international students on Irish programmes. That total in that respect is 23%. There is the medical college in Bahrain. UCD is in the process of setting up joint ventures with education providers, universities and third level institutions in China. It, together with the university of agriculture in China, has established a joint venture with a local city which has provided the land and infrastructure for a course that will cover two years in China and two years in Ireland and it will have a mixture of European and Chinese students.

On Senator Moran's question on the qualifications issue, the vast bulk of our students come for short-term courses such as the year abroad programme, which is a classic American programme. They get credit for their period of study here but they are not in a category in respect of which we would have an issue. However, we have an issue with our colleagues in Northern Ireland. The CAO system evaluates in points terms and accords 100 points to a leaving certificate honours grade of 90% plus. The A star, as it is called, subject to clarification, is rated 150 points. The people in Northern Ireland and the Minister with responsibility for higher education, Stephen Farry, have raised this with us and they would argue that this level of point value is less than what an A star should properly be. We in the Department of Education and Skills, or in the Higher Education Authority which is in within the remit of the Department, do not score the CAO performance but what we have in the past, through the State Examinations Commission, increased the gradation. There used to be seven grades of evaluation in the marking system. At their request some eight or ten years ago we have, through the State Examinations Commission, increased the grading from seven to 14, which has allowed them to calibrate. In that very tight marking system no student is more than 2.5 points away from either an upgrade or a downgrade. That issue is currently under discussion for reasons the members will understand.

This would extend to the whole of Britain, but there are different systems in terms of marking in place in the United Kingdom as the Secretary of State, Mr. Gove, has introduced a variety of different ways of marking in respect of the GCSE subjects and superior exams. In terms of students in the North in particular, the concern is that some of the students who might want to come to the South will not come because they are not getting the full award that they would get for a similar qualification in the United Kingdom. The understanding is that most of the interest would be in areas such as medicine, which would attract that kind of student. Nevertheless, there has been an increase in the number of students from Northern Ireland studying in the South. It is a relatively significant percentage increase but on a very small numbers base.

On the leadership courses, in terms of participants, I can give the members more details of on that if they would like.