Mr. Tim Conlon:

I would like to comment on the points made by Senators O'Reilly and Gallagher . They raised some interesting issues, which some of my colleagues have covered. I would like to comment on capacity and the agenda for strategic internationalisation are important to our institutions. We see this in the HEA when we meet with and discuss these issues with these institutions. As colleagues said, it is not just about student numbers, but about the broader, long-term collaborations and relationships that are sustainable between institutions, based on a quality student experience. Our international education strategy has seen numbers grow from 8% to 15% over the past four years. There has been a significant growth in our systems. Some 15% of students are now international. I make that point not to be discordant, but because it is important that we do not get 100 students from the same place, in the same college programme or cohort. That is not a very international or Irish experience. The mix or blend of international students and North-South and so on, is important. Senator O'Reilly said it best when he said that these students are ambassadors for our country when they leave. The quality of their experience is, therefore, something we have to be cautious about.

I would take the opportunity to mention some of the significant State supports that were made available this year. Mr. O’Sullivan has mentioned visas for example and the stay-back. Across Departments the significant supports during the pandemic for international students was something that should be commended. There were research project extensions, taxis were provided for students to bring them safely from airports to their institutions, and so on. The State, therefore, did a lot to maintain the quality of the experience for international students. Again, as Senator O'Reilly said, when those ambassadors go back to their countries, we want them to have had a good experience, not a negative one. There was, therefore, a lot of cross-government working and collaboration to protect our higher education system, our Irish students, and indeed our international students.

Senator Gallagher mentioned attracting talent to our shores. In that context, I would like to mention the senior academic leadership initiative. Again, we can provide the committee with more information on that in the future, if required. The senior academic leadership initiative addresses significant imbalances in female academic staff at high levels in our institutions. If one goes into certain subject areas, such as heavy maths and so on, the representation of female academics is significantly less than their male counterparts. Under that programme, we have been highly successful in attracting some very high-profile, high-calibre figures from the UK to Irish higher educational institutions. They come here for the inclusivity aspect and for the opportunity to work in a quality environment. The fact that as a nation we value inclusivity and that agenda has been important. The point I am making in terms of that capacity issue, is that we have a great product to sell, but we have to be careful not to oversell it. We have to protect the quality of that product. For that reason, there will be some constraint in capacity. However, it is important that the quality of the student experience, the staff experience and the system, are hallmarks internationally. We have to be careful to protect that.