Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 24 May 2022

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills

Future Funding of Higher Education: Discussion (Resumed)

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the committee for the invitation to discuss our plans for the sustainable future funding of the higher education sector, the major reforms of technological universities and other important initiatives under way in our Department. I previously stated to this committee that the Government will not be found wanting when it comes to addressing the question of sustainable funding for higher education. It has profound impacts for our economy, society and the citizens we all serve. The review sponsored by the European Commission Directorate General for Structural Reform Support was undertaken in early 2020 and I recently brought the report to Government for approval and publication.

I publicly thank the European Commission and the independent consultants for their extensive support and work in developing this comprehensive assessment. It provided a clear and detailed economic assessment to the funding options presented in the 2016 Cassells report, requested formally by this committee in 2019. On that note, I thank this committee, current and former members, Peter Cassells for his work, and everyone for their collective drive and ambition to see a sustainable model of funding for higher education, a truly important strategic national asset.

I am delighted to be with the committee to discuss our policy response and the decisions we have made, as published by the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and me on 4 May. As colleagues will be aware, I also published the review of the student grant scheme, fulfilling a key programme for Government commitment.

Funding the Future is the Department’s landmark policy document which settles the question of both the funding model and the funding gap. I want to be clear about what the Government decided not to do in Funding the Future. We have ruled out the possibility of introducing student loans into the system. We believe they are unfair and do not work. We have decided that the higher education system will have a multi-funded model, through additional Exchequer investment, because higher education is a public good, and through ongoing but not increased employer contributions to the national training fund. The student contribution will be retained but will be reduced over time.

We have put in place a twin-track approach. A funding gap of €307 million has been identified. There is a plan on how to fund higher education with a reform process. In the interests of time, I will not go through my full statement, but this is the exciting part. Now that we have identified the funding gap of €307 million, this enables a conversation to take place about what sort of education system we want to create. Up until now, legitimate conversations have been legitimately stymied by people saying that they cannot do more because the core funding has to be provided. We have now identified the core funding and the Government is committed to delivering it. We have to continue with the reform discussion.

How do we create an education system in Ireland that can meet the skills needs of the country now and in the future, and is accessible to all, flexible and recognises that students come to the education system at all stages of life? Not everyone can come in for a four-year degree, pack the bags, and move to another town or city. I am particularly passionate about creating better pathways between further education and higher education, so there is not a singular focus on rote learning, leaving certificate points and the CAO. This is a common ambition that we share across the political divide in this House.

We cannot talk about core funding and a sustainable plan that works for the universities without talking about a sustainable plan that works for families. While we can have a legitimate debate about whether we should reduce the registration fee or student grant fee first, or a bit of both, I will be clear that it is the Government's policy position that the cost of education for working families must be reduced. My Department only has two levers at its disposal to do that: the registration fee and the student grant. The Government has stated in a policy document that it wishes to see the student grant system significantly improved and that it wants to reduce the registration fee.

While maybe it is wonky and part of a process, I think it is exciting that, every year, in advance of the budget, we will publish a cost of education paper that will set out all the options. What options are available to the Minister or Government and why did it choose one over another? I think this will provide a focus on what options the Houses of the Oireachtas have to reduce the cost.

The student grant scheme review involved significant work. I thank colleagues for it. More than 9,000 people participated in the consultation. We have begun to implement some of the actions, including changes to the adjacency rate and the first increases to the grant and the income threshold in ten years. There is no doubt that we have much more to do. I hope and expect that we can make more progress on that in the budget.

We have established an implementation group to deliver the Funding the Future model. I am delighted I will be co-chairing it with Professor Anne Looney and Professor Tom Collins. I want to thank them both for their leadership. The inaugural meeting will take place tomorrow. We do not intend to lose any time in getting on with the agenda. The group membership is comprised of enterprise voices, student voices, societal voices and, of course, Government and agency representatives. I am very excited about the work we will undertake. As the members are aware, there are fives strands to the work of the group. No doubt, there will be an opportunity during questions and exchanges to address that.

I was also asked to touch on the issue of technological universities. Every application for every technological university has now been delivered. There is a gap in the north-east that we need to work together to address, but all technological university applications received by this Government have now been progressed. All the technological universities which sought status are now open and functioning. We are excited about the next stage of their journey. I can get into that during the questioning.

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