Professor Ciar?n ? h?gartaigh:

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Chathaoirleach Gníomhach. Tá mé an-bhuíoch den deis labhairt leis an choiste.

I am president of the University of Galway and of the Universities Ireland council. I thank the committee for the invite. Gabhaim buíochas leis an choiste as ucht an cuireadh. I will take the preamble to this statement, which outlines the role of Universities Ireland, as read. We represent universities on the island of Ireland. These include the IUA members in the Republic and ATU joined in 2024. Therefore, Mr. Hannigan is a member of Universities Ireland as well; he gets two bites of the cherry. The Open University became our tenth member and Technological University Dublin joined in 2020. It is an all-Ireland body.

We welcome this discussion around North-South student mobility. More generally and further, we support enhanced interest and support for North-South co-operation on higher education and research, which is in answer to the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's question in the previous session. We wrote last year to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Innovation, Research and Science in Ireland and to the Permanent Secretary at the Department of the Economy in Northern Ireland to support the inclusion of higher and further education in the scope of work and the areas of co-operation of the North-South Ministerial Council, as higher and further education are not currently within the scope of the work of the North-South Ministerial Council. We believe that many of the issues raised here could usefully be discussed and facilitated there. Having had subsequent discussions with the secretariat to the North-South Ministerial Council, a consideration of the scope of the work of the council could not be progressed while the Stormont Assembly was not in place. Now that it is, we will engage with the responsible Ministers in the two jurisdictions to prompt that discussion.

The ESRI has published a useful report on the issue of North-South student mobility under the heading that "Institutional barriers limit cross-Border student mobility". It was launched by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science in September 2023. It came to the conclusion, which is useful in this context; that:

Stakeholders highlight the value of mobility for students themselves, for higher education institutions and for enhancing cross-border cooperation. The findings indicate [three things]: School-based guidance could provide greater awareness of options in other jurisdictions, a process which could be usefully supported by outreach work by higher education institutions.

There is a case to reexamine CAO point equivalences for A-levels, given the very small group of Northern Ireland candidates who take four A-levels, and to look at modern foreign language requirements, given much lower take-up of modern foreign languages in Northern Ireland.

Decisions about where to study take place, for students, against a broader backdrop of rising costs and access to differential levels of financial supports. Current accommodation costs and lack of housing availability are undoubtedly barriers to students moving from Northern Ireland (and the rest of the UK). While financial supports are in place for students in both jurisdictions (though the level and nature vary) there is a broader issue of the extent to which such supports cover the costs of participation.

I will take each of these three points in turn. On school-based guidance, Universities Ireland strongly supports the recommendation that a campaign of engagement with school-based guidance counsellors is a critical element of raising awareness of the potential for North-South student mobility, particularly in highlighting the choices available to students. While this can be supported to a certain extent by outreach work for higher education institutions, it could be more usefully, efficiently and less competitively framed as a sectoral engagement campaign. Such engagement is not without cost. Additional, relatively modest financial support for such engagement, for example from the shared island initiative, would make it more impactful. Such resourcing need not be recurring, as an investment in a short, focused campaign could raise awareness over a short period.

Universities Ireland, with additional funds above those already provided by the Government, would be willing to co-ordinate such a campaign and we will include that in the 2025 work programme we submit for funding.

On re-examining CAO point equivalencies for A-levels, when I appeared before this committee last year, I undertook to add this issue to the agenda of the next Universities Ireland council meeting, with a view to establishing a timely review and the progressing of any necessary adjustment, as proposed. On foot of this, a working group of Universities Ireland was established, chaired by Professor Pól Ó Dochartaigh, deputy president and registrar of the University of Galway, who has great experience of working on both sides of the Border, given that he has been at Ulster University and is now deputy president register here in Galway. The membership of the working group and its full report are provided in the appendix to this statement. The working group report was published in November 2023. Around CAO points equivalencies for A-levels, it proposed that:

analogous to the use of the best six Leaving Certificate results (out of 7 or more) whereby a student can make up points from a mixture of “higher” and “ordinary” level subjects”, A Level candidates be allowed to use the best 3 A Levels, in combination with a 4th A-level or an Extended Project or an AS subject. This will mean that applicants can attain a score of 600 points with 3 A levels and 1 AS. It also proposes that candidates can be considered on 2 A-levels and one or two AS levels.

Understanding, as was noted last year, that entry requirements are a matter for each university, all members of Universities Ireland have agreed to implement these recommendations by 2025 at the latest. The University of Galway will implement these changes in 2024. THEA will speak for itself on its own view on this matter. As part of the annual refresh of Queen's University Belfast's student recruitment strategy, its vice president of student and corporate services has tasked the head of global student recruitment with exploring the development of a tailored student recruitment focused on the Republic of Ireland.

As for the review of the modern language requirement for entry under the CAO, given much lower take-up of modern languages in Northern Ireland as indicated by the ESRI report, the Universities Ireland working group concluded that:

The point was made in consultation with Northern Irish partners that as a European-facing state and EU member, the Republic would not wish to move away from the current approach to languages and, as such, there is an issue for NI to address. This was accepted by them.

Therefore, there is work to be done in Northern Ireland to increase the proportion of students who take modern languages. In an important point, the report concluded that:

The delayed release of results, at a time when the UK A Levels Boards and other countries’ systems have gone back to normal, is a negative factor in respect of mobility from North to South, because students in the North are often sitting for weeks with [an] offer already in the hand and thus will feel compelled to accept that, including putting a deposit on accommodation etc. The delay impacts negatively on the ability to secure accommodation in a difficult market in the Republic. We urge strongly that the Department of Education [in the Republic] ensure a return to the normal Leaving Certificate results release date, both in the interest of Cross-Border mobility and also in the interests of the Leaving Certificate students [more generally].

This remains the case-----