Dr. Stephen Farry:

I fear I am opening up a hornet's nest here. As I said, the Deputy's point is well made. For may part, I have no particular axe to grind in terms of where students are coming from. I welcome a free flow of students throughout these islands. The most important thing is that people are making choices which are informed by good information and which best suit themselves and their own career progression. There will be a variance in terms of the nature of courses that are provided by different universities. A greater degree of collaboration between North and South will allow our different institutions to specialise to a greater extent and, in so doing, facilitate better choice for all concerned.

That said, we obviously have to take decisions around funding regimes. There will always be different systems depending upon the jurisdiction of origin of students, but one hopes they would operate within similar parameters and would not create too many distortions in the flows between the two jurisdictions. It is fair to say there has been a turning away in terms of natural synergies that might have existed around the Border areas in recent generations. For instance, the strong tradition historically of Northern students studying in Trinity College has fallen off very heavily in recent years. Information is key in terms of access. We are very keen to ensure our local universities market themselves to prospective students throughout the island and that career advisers in this jurisdiction would provide information in terms of the availability of courses. My colleague, Ms Shaw, might wish to comment on that point.