Dr. Joseph Ryan:

Reflecting on what the Senator said, when I went to college - I am going back a bit now - the number of students amounted to approximately 15% to 20% of the age cohort; they now amount to more than 60% of the age cohort. The question of democratisation and the role of the technological sector in widening access have been a key part of this. That access and the link to region and community are key to the build of these new technological universities. The linkage between governance and place and region has been a key theme to which we have been referring all the time. I do not think there is any disconnect between that connectedness, which is the byline of the TURN report on the build of these technological universities, and that question of linkage back into community. I fully agree with the Senator that there should be a mirror of these new universities with the regions themselves.

As for the question of gender, THEA, as the committee will know, launched some time ago the PROPEL report on the consent framework and linkages. We have done a lot of work, along with colleagues in the IUA and elsewhere, on senior academic leadership initiative, SALI, frameworks etc. There has been a lot of change in trying to get a broader equality, diversity and inclusion, EDI, agenda within higher education, including dedicated posts at senior level. I am not for a moment making the argument that we have solved the matter but we are certainly on a path and we would like to see that reflected within this legislation.