Dr. Vivienne Patterson:

Following up on Mr. McKenna's comments on career guidance, one thing that the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science is focusing on in the next year is developing a kind of a common portal where not only students leaving school but also lifelong learners are able to access everything in one portal, including further education, lifelong learning, higher education, apprenticeships, traineeships and whatever. I think it is important that perhaps we recommend there is information in that portal around travel to Northern Ireland and opportunities there. To answer the Senator's question around how many students from the Republic of Ireland are going to other parts of the UK, as we have pointed out there are 2,170 going to Northern Ireland. There are 4,790 going to England, 2,375 going to Scotland and 365 going to Wales. Scotland is the only jurisdiction that has increased its enrolments from the Republic of Ireland students. The numbers going to England and Wales have declined quite a bit over the last few years, and Northern Ireland is steady. That is the comparison.