Mr. Paul Hannigan:

In response to the Chairman's question, which Professor Ó Néill has also addressed in terms of brain drain and retention of graduates, the retention of graduates in this region has increased significantly over the past ten to 15 years. It really has changed as the industrial base improves around the colleges too. The work of this particular network is enhancing that. I am aware that some of our graduates are taking advantage of the academies that were set up by Ulster University and the North West Regional College in Derry who have worked with Alchemy Technology Services and FinTrU. That is a movement of students and graduates that probably was not happening five or six years ago, but the opportunities are there now and people are doing really well because of it. Our challenge is not to hem people in within the region, if they want to travel and choose to go elsewhere then that is a choice they have. If we can provide the best we can in the provision we have, it increases the number of graduates who want to stay. We can see this happening very clearly in the past while. People are now making the decision that they want to be here. They look at the quality of life and other issues attending to that, but they would not stay of the education provision was not good enough for them. They are making that decision and their parents are making that decision. It is obviously a virtuous circle from our perspective and we want to continue to support that.