Professor Mark Rogers:

Without data this is again anecdotal, but I suspect it is the commuting rather than the living that has an impact. Students who live nearer their institutions are perhaps better placed, but the costs are significant. I suspect we have students commuting two hours each way to attend third level education and it is difficult to imagine that it is not impacting their ability to study.

On the questions on philanthropic funding, at an institutional level, there are probably three or four ways in which philanthropy impacts on education. The first concerns the capital programmes. We seek and, thankfully, receive generous donations from individuals and sometimes from companies to support us in pursuing the capital development programmes we wish to undertake. Much of that is about building the capacity we need to support growth and I would argue it is, in part, subsidising underfunding by the Government.

We also have a large cohort of alumni continuously giving small amounts of money. Much of that funding is used to support students in financial need and to give scholarships. A great deal of it, to the tune of several million euro each year in my institution, is going to support students from disadvantaged backgrounds or those who are socioeconomically disadvantaged. We also have some philanthropic donations that sponsor professorships or chairs. We are extraordinarily careful to ensure such funding is not reflected in the academic programmes or in academic delivery. Academic freedom is an essential component of the university and higher education system. In addition, there is also occasional funding of a programme, or at least of students in a programme, which would be quite targeted and not in the same vein. It would be about supporting an industry partner in respect of its training needs within its industry, rather than being focused on creating a broader profile of education in support of that industry.

We are thankful that there are generous donors - individuals and companies - who help us. We are also cognisant of ensuring that in doing so we are undertaking the right programmes and not just taking money for money's sake. Funding must be for a project we value and want and for which we see a strategic need. I particularly welcome that we have a large body of alumni giving small amounts, such as €10 or €15 a month, because that builds up to quite a pot of money and that again helps to underpin ways of addressing the underfunding of the system, through the SUSI grant system, for example.