Dr. Vivienne Patterson:

Good afternoon. On behalf of the Higher Education Authority, I am delighted to contribute to this discussion around the future of science, technology, engineering and maths in Irish education.

In Ireland, 30% of students entering higher education for the first time study STEM. This translates to more than 20,000 STEM graduates annually. Over the past five years, certain STEM disciplines have seen larger increases than others. Electricity and energy has seen the largest increase in the number of new entrants, up by 57%. This is followed by architecture and construction, up 55%; mathematics, up 54%; and environmental sciences, as would be expected, up 53%. Nine months after graduation, three in four undergraduate degree STEM graduates are in employment, with 94% of them staying in Ireland for employment. Importantly, 84% consider their qualification necessary for their current position. STEM graduates earn above average salaries nine months after graduation. However, STEM students are less likely to progress from first year to second year than non-STEM students. In the latest year, 11% of STEM students did not progress to second year, compared with 8% of non-STEM students. Males are less likely to progress than females, particularly male STEM students.

The creation of diverse and progressive pathways in the tertiary system is identified as a goal in the statement of strategy of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and advancing this work is critical to ensuring improved progression rates in higher education STEM courses. With the establishment of the national tertiary office in 2022, currently 50% of proposed courses commencing in 2023 are in the STEM discipline area. Promoting female participation, diversity and inclusion in STEM is fundamental to establishing and developing innovative solutions that are representative and fit for all. Overall, 30% of students entering higher education for the first time study STEM but, nonetheless, a large gender gap is evident. While 43% of men study STEM, 19% of women do so, representing a 24-percentage point difference. Through the gender equality enhancement fund in 2022, the HEA awarded more than €246,000 to advance gender equality initiatives. These were awarded across three areas, with one focusing on training programmes specifically addressing gender equality. These efforts include STEM-related initiatives such as the INDICATOR project investigating the gender dimension in computing research across the Irish HEI sector.

The national access plan was published in August 2022. Under its inclusivity goal, the plan contains an objective to consider how to achieve a more diverse student population across all programmes and levels of study. This is relevant for STEM with data in the plan showing that, for example, just 4.9% of new entrants doing mathematics in 2019-20 were from disadvantaged areas, compared with 19.1% from affluent areas. Over the lifetime of the access plan, a range of key performance indicators will be monitored to assess progress, trends and diversity across STEM fields of study.

On research funding, the Irish Research Council, IRC, supports a range of STEM education initiatives. The IRC currently has a total investment of €677,000 in STEM education projects. These supports fall under the Government of Ireland postgraduate scholarship programme, the employment-based postgraduate programme, the COALESCE scheme and the new foundations scheme. The HEA also manages the human capital initiative pillar 3, which consists of projects that aim to develop initiatives in higher education institutions, working with enterprises that are innovative and agile. These projects are five years in duration and, overall, 24 projects have been funded, with ten of these having a heavy focus on the STEM disciplines.

Upskilling and lifelong learning are imperative to ensure that our society is responsive to labour market needs and to any future challenges that may arise. Springboard+ and the human capital initiative pillar 1, managed by the HEA, offer free and heavily subsided courses in areas of high demand in STEM, such as ICT, engineering, green skills, data analytics and construction. These initiatives aim to support the skills of those in employment and to build the supply of skilled graduates to meet the current and future skills needs of the Irish economy.

A number of capital projects are being supported by the HEA capital programmes unit which will have a direct impact on the capacity of higher education institutions to recruit additional STEM students. The higher education strategic infrastructure fund, HESIF, round II initiative announced €100 million in capital funding last week on four projects, of which two will principally support STEM enrolments. The other two also have a small STEM component. Other funds, such as the higher education public private partnership, HEPPP, programme, the higher education strategic infrastructure fund and the infrastructure upgrade and refurbishment fund, could deliver up to 14,000 additional STEM student places, as well as supporting existing STEM student places. The technological sector strategic projects fund is developing a pipeline of projects that could deliver a further 3,000 additional places, as well as supporting existing places, over the next number of years.

I thank members and look forward to their questions and further discussion.