Dr. Vivienne Patterson:

I am pleased to assist the committee in its consideration of the topics referred to in its letter of 12 January. On the matter of North-South student enrolment in tertiary education, the recently enacted Higher Education Authority Act 2022 states that under its functions the HEA must promote co-operation and collaboration on higher education with the authorities that have responsibility for higher education in Northern Ireland, including the promotion of co-operation between designated institutions of higher education and institutions of higher education in Northern Ireland. We have quite a bit of data on the flow of students across the Border. The HEA, through its student record system, collects student enrolment and graduate data, including the domiciliary of origin. This gives us a very good indication of the number of students coming across the Border from Northern Ireland to enrol in HEA-designated higher education institutions.

The HEA, in collaboration with the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland, published two reports on students flows between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in 2015 and 2018. More recently, the HEA conducted analysis for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on the enrolment trends between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, including cross-Border flows. The cross-Border flow of students between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland continues to be a key element of cultural and educational collaboration between the two jurisdictions.

I will highlight some areas that have not been highlighted already. By mode of study, 68% of those crossing the Border are full-time students while 32% are part-time students. As has been noted, the overall number enrolled has remained relatively steady over the past five years. The majority of Northern Ireland students, at 75%, studying in the Republic of Ireland are undergraduates whereas the proportion of Republic of Ireland students studying in Northern Ireland is much more equal, with 54% undergraduates and 46% postgraduates. Females are more likely than males to enroll cross-Border at undergraduate level in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland. In the 2020-2021 academic year 67% of enrolments in Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland were female while 57% of Republic of Ireland students studying in Northern Ireland were female.

As Mr. McKenna pointed out, Republic of Ireland students studying in Northern Ireland predominantly study subjects allied to medicine, business and management while Northern Ireland students studying in the Republic of Ireland predominantly study arts and humanities, business studies and health and welfare. In the academic year 2020-2021 83% of Northern Ireland new entrants entering Republic of Ireland higher education institutions enrolled in Dundalk Institute of Technology, University of Galway, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. The majority of Republic of Ireland students attended the University of Ulster and Queen's University Belfast.

The HEA also manages the Erasmus programme. In 2020, the United Kingdom withdrew from the Erasmus+ programme but it will continue to send and receive students and staff until this academic year, 2022-2023, under agreements signed before the end of 2020. This measure was introduced by the European Commission as a response to the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Higher education institutions in Northern Ireland have taken up this option and a number will continue to send and receive students until this year. The HEA is in discussion with the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research Innovation and Science to develop a scheme to allow eligible students from higher education institutions in Northern Ireland to continue participating in Erasmus+ on the basis of temporary registration at Irish higher education institutions, with implementation in September 2023.

The HEA also manages a number of funding initiatives on behalf of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. These initiatives either partly or fully promote cross-Border activity in tertiary education and research. In 2018 the HEA through its landscape funding provided €250,000 for cross-Border further and higher education partnership. This partnership was modelled on higher education clusters, as envisaged in the national strategy for higher education to 2030. It involved the University of Ulster, Letterkenny Institute of Technology, Atlantic Technological University, North West Regional College and Donegal Education and Training Board. This funding contributed to the development of a co-ordinated academic plan that exploits opportunities for collaboration and study pathways for students in the region and the development of a regional further and higher education prospectus. Landscape funding in 2019 provided €500,000 for the smart industry north-west city region.

In addition, in 2019 HEA performance funding was awarded to Letterkenny Institute of Technology to support a project aimed at supporting high-value employment opportunities and data science support for industry in the region, particularly in ICT and financial technology.

In support of this, a new data science research centre, Artificial Intelligence North West, was established.

In 2021, the shared island unit allocated €40 million over five years to the North-South research programme, NSRP, which is being delivered by the HEA. Following a very successful first call, 62 projects were funded across three strands to the value of €37.38 million. Projects are strengthening links between higher education institutions, research communities and researchers across the island of Ireland by delivering all-island approaches to research and innovation through a lens nuanced by the objectives of the Good Friday Agreement, the sustainable development goals, the national development plan, Ireland 2040, and the strategic development of research and higher education. The programme also aligns with the objectives of pillar 51 of the new national research strategy, Impact 2030. Each project is underpinned by the aims of the shared island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach and the criteria of the NSRP.

Of the 62 successful projects from call 1 of the North-South research programme, 19 projects include research students. Over a period of four years, strand 2 Department-to-Department projects focused on establishing emerging hubs of excellence will support 31 PhD students and two master's students. In addition, collaboration between higher education institutions was encouraged to establish links with relevant third-party collaborators such as NGOs and charities, hospitals, SMEs, State agencies and other public institutions.

The HEA's new legislation will provide opportunities for further collaboration with the tertiary education sector in Northern Ireland. The HEA looks forward to liaising with our colleagues in the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to establish how the HEA can play an enhanced role in furthering North-South collaboration through higher education and research.

I thank the members of the committee and we look forward to taking any questions.