Mr. Colm Kelly:

The TUI represents more than 21,000 teachers, lecturers and staff in education and training boards, ETBs, voluntary secondary schools, community and comprehensive schools, Youthreach programmes, institutes of technology and technological universities and those working in out-of-school services. As noted by the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019 “as a country we have everything to gain and nothing to lose by increasing levels of participation in higher education”. The TUI believes higher education should be available as a public good to all who want it. The TUI’s position in this regard includes access for citizens of Ireland to the further and higher education institutions in the North of Ireland and also access for Northern Irish students to our institutions here in Ireland. The TUI is particularly proud of its involvement in both the education and training board sector and the technological university sector, formerly the institutes of technology sector. These sectors focus on regional provision of a broad and accessible range of education and training options and provide for both progression and employment. The regional mission of the technological university, TU, sector is not only enshrined in all relevant agreements, but is underpinned by the TU legislation. It is also recognised that the technological university sector provides an economic and social benefit as well as providing access for priority groups, such as the Traveller and Roma communities, through the type of flexible learning routes that are a mainstay of the sector. Equally, the current further education and training, FET, strategy adopted by SOLAS seeks to ensure that ETBs have regard to broad accessibility which is potentially supportive of a complementary system of North-South student enrolment in tertiary education.

In the development of the implementation of the FET strategy, it will remain important to have cognisance of both a breadth of access options and a breadth of progression options. The FET strategy is less clear on how best to develop progression options. More consideration is required to avoid a neo-liberal drift into prioritising the labour market ahead of progression, and transitions between, further and higher education. The TUI is confident that the committee will share our concern about education being important in its own right and that progression to higher levels on the National Framework of Qualifications is as valuable to society as industry-focused courses. In regard to such progression however, the TUI notes the establishment of a specific office to manage the developing unified tertiary education policy which will seek to strengthen the progression routes between further and higher education.

It will be important as part of this valuable work to have regard both to ensuring smooth progressions and transitions between the Irish curricula and those available in Northern Ireland, and also those in Europe more broadly. Returning to regional provision, it will be important to ensure a broad curriculum for further education and training in the ETBs closest to the Border, namely, Cavan and Monaghan ETB, CMETB, Louth and Meath ETB, LMETB, Donegal ETB and Mayo, Sligo and Leitrim ETB, MSLETB. For example, the TUI notes that work in relation to the unified tertiary education strategy is commencing in some of these ETBs with a particular focus on progression to the Atlantic Technological University, ATU. This work will have regard both to the potential for students from Northern Ireland seeking access to ATU and, indeed, students from MSLETB seeking entry into courses in higher education institutions, HEIs, in Northern Ireland and the potential for transitions to and between further education and training institutions on both sides of the Border.

Regarding the provision of higher education in Ireland the TUI continues to be disappointed by the failure to ensure a pathway for Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT, into the Technological University Sector. It is an unconscionable failure of the State in not providing for such a provision in the north east, for students and communities on both sides of the Border. The TUI continues to demand the intercession of the Government to support such a pathway for DkIT. In short, the TUI would offer the following by way of recommendations for the consideration of the committee: that DkIT must be provided with all necessary support to secure its position within, or as, a technological university for the north east; that significant investment in access programmes is required; ongoing mutual recognition of further and higher education programmes between the North and South, despite Brexit; the size of SUSI grants and eligibility criteria for same should be significantly expanded and the TUI welcomes the current ongoing review of SUSI in this regard; Exchequer funding of higher education must be dramatically increased, it is the TUI's position that a 1% levy should be applied to corporation profits in order to generate a dedicated fund for higher education; staff-student ratios in higher education urgently need to be reduced; apprenticeships should have greater support and visibility and funding models must take account of the unique role that the technological sector plays in higher education access. I look forward to the rest of the discussion.