Mr. Bryan O'Mahony:

The USI welcomes this opportunity to make a submission to the joint committee on North-South student mobility and thanks the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and members for this opportunity. I am the vice president for academic affairs and deputy president of USI. The Union of Students in Ireland is the national representative body of 374,000 third level students on the island of Ireland. The USI liaises with our member organisations on student issues and has 30 member organisations spread across the island of Ireland, North and South.

The mobility of students between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is a significant aspect of educational and cultural exchange within the island. Education and mobility between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland is facilitated by various agreements and frameworks, including the common travel area and the Good Friday Agreement. These agreements provide a foundation for co-operation in education, allowing students to move freely across the Border to pursue their studies. This can be appreciated in the €40 million invested in the Ulster University Magee campus in Derry, which was to actively engage in collaborative efforts of teaching and research between UIster University and Atlantic Technological University, Donegal. Such collaborations enhance the quality of education and promote cultural exchange amongst students.

When we look at the issues of students studying in the North, we must first look at the issues of clarity and limited awareness of available opportunities among students. If students look at the cost of studying in the North, there is a common misconception that SUSI can cover the cost of tuition and maintenance as if they were to go to any other college in the Republic of Ireland. While clarity around stuff like this can be found, unless you know to look for it you will not find it. This leads on to the consistency of options for studying in the North being provided by career guidance counsellors in secondary education, as well as assistance in applying. The teaching of writing a personal statement for UCAS could be an invaluable help to students, as that may otherwise be seen as a barrier due to uncertainty. An awareness campaign could be made to inform students, parents and educators about available opportunities for cross-Border education and the support services available could increase participation rates. This could done with packs being sent to schools or through a website being developed for things to be laid out clearly with a drop-down of each college on the island of Ireland and with tips on how to apply for better North-South or South-North mobility.

Information that could be mentioned on such a website might, for example, include yLink cards and Leap cards for public transport, which student accommodations are available near the college, how to set up a cross-Border bank account or how to use international phone services.

Also, we could look at diagnosable learning difficulties. We believe in a corridor of information between the NHS and HSE for people who have been diagnosed with learning difficulties to take away the financial barrier of paying for the same assessment twice. In addition, USI would look at the complications that may arise with repeat prescriptions when you are starting college across the Border.

As for the release dates of CAO offers, CAO offers have always been cited as a barrier for mobility for students from the North coming here, as well as causing some difficulties for students already within this region. This falls down to the moving to later leaving certificate result release dates and is not the fault of the CAO itself. One way to combat this would be a conditional offer system like that which UCAS provides being implemented with the CAO, as this could help with earlier planning around booking student accommodation and could take away from students making multiple bookings of accommodation. The Universities Ireland report has recommended changes for students from Northern Ireland to access education in the South and the USI welcomes the proposed easement. The four A-levels was consistently being flagged to us as an issue in coming South to study. We welcome this change and await the implementation of the 2024-25 academic year to see if this will truly boost student mobility.

The USI encourages closer collaboration between universities through joint initiatives such as shared academic programmes and research partnerships. This could help enrich the educational experience and promote cross-cultural understanding of one's students. We would like to see the expanding of funding opportunities for educational mobility programmes, particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. This could help make cross-Border education more accessible and inclusive. As an organisation, we would like to see more policy alignment as alignment between practices and policies between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would facilitate smoother transitions for students and would remove unnecessary barriers to education.

In conclusion, education mobility between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland plays a crucial role in fostering co-operation, enriching the educational experience and promoting cultural exchange on the island. By addressing the existing challenges and leveraging opportunities for enhancement, stakeholders can work towards providing greater educational mobility and ensuring all students have access to cross-Border education in Ireland. Continued commitment and collaboration from policymakers, educators and other stakeholders is essential to realising the full potential of education mobility between the North and South.