Professor Ciar?n ? h?gartaigh:

Go raibh maith agat a Chathaoirleach. I am President of Ollscoil na Gaillimhe, University of Galway and of the Universities Ireland Council. I thank the committee for the invite. Go raibh maith agaibh as an gcuireadh. I am pleased to represent Universities Ireland here as we have a particular role in encouraging cross-Border co-operation in higher education, including student mobility. There is a preamble in the statement about what Universities Ireland does more generally which I will take as read in the interests of time.

We welcome this discussion with regard to North-South student mobility. More generally and further, we support an enhanced interest and support for North-South co-operation in higher education and research. With that in mind, we have recently written to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Innovation, Research and Science in the Republic of Ireland, and to the Permanent Secretary for the Department of the Economy in Northern Ireland to support the inclusion of higher and further education in the scope of work and the areas of co-operation of the North-South Ministerial Council. Higher and further education are not currently within the scope of work of the North-South Ministerial Council and we believe that many of the issues raised here could usefully be discussed at the North-South Ministerial Council and facilitated there.

We particularly welcome and commend the committee’s interest in and report on North-South student enrolment in tertiary education, which I will refer to as ‘the report’ hereafter. We particularly welcome the stakeholder engagement outlined on page 31 and the evidence base provided throughout. As people who are interested in evidence we are particularly encouraged by that. As we will all agree education, and higher education in particular, brings communities together and facilitates a shared understanding. It is a common good, a public good, to promote peace and prosperity to the benefit of all our communities, North and South. There is strong evidence that student mobility, for example in the Erasmus and other international scholarship programmes, contributes meaningfully to peace and prosperity through a shared understanding and appreciation of difference as part of our common humanity.

It is also important to note in that context, and as a group of universities working together, that we don’t see this as a competitive context, hoping to attract more students to the Republic of Ireland from Northern Ireland orvice versa. Rather, and critically, we see this as a co-operative setting where we work together to further enhance peace and prosperity, social and economic development, as well as student choice, and the island of Ireland’s collective competitive position as a destination of choice in research and teaching. Therefore, we encourage the committee to see support for student mobility as a two-way street, i.e. South to North as well as North to South, and to the extent that it can, seek to influence policy-making with that in mind.

As members of Universities Ireland, we see clear opportunities for North-South student and faculty mobility, joint research, and a shared engagement in critical areas of interest and complexity for us all, for example such as climate change, health, human rights, security and food security, and conflict, peace and reconciliation studies across all our institutions. We also note that our members, universities across the island, are also providing short focused courses for students and employers, supported by funding from both the Higher Education Authority, HEA, and, separately, the Northern Ireland Executive. There is increased interest in and demand for microcredentials which could usefully be included in the scope of the report and in the committee's deliberations.

The report has a number of considered recommendations. We look forward to discussing and engaging with these in greater detail. I will provide an initial response to each of them in turn:

The first recommendation is to task the HEA and SOLAS with the promotion of cross-Border student enrolment. We agree that this is worth raising with the HEA in setting a general context for cross-Border student mobility. It is also worth noting that students ultimately consider enrolment in a university setting rather than in a jurisdiction, so that while the HEA can play a role in supporting the broader context each institution also has a role to play in this regard.

The second recommendation is to set Government targets for cross-Border enrolment in further and higher education. While targets are necessary to set objectives and measure progress against those objectives, achieving those targets depends on a much broader and complex set of circumstances, such as those set out in the recommendations of the report.

Third, the report recommends a promotion and outreach campaign run in collaboration with the Northern Ireland Executive. We agree and look forward to supporting such an engagement. Our sense is that engagement with school guidance counsellors would be critical in this context as they play a particularly important role in supporting student choice. Such a campaign could also usefully better inform students about programmes available in each jurisdiction not available in the other so that students could be attracted across the Border in that context.

The fourth recommendation is to adjust grade equivalences and matriculation to support cross-Border enrolment. There is evidence that A-Level grade equivalences are anomalous and should be reviewed. I think this is a critical part of our support for the recommendations.

While the work originally carried out in this regard, which set the equivalence, looked at the numbers achieving various grades at A-level versus the leaving certificate, that work did not appear to take account of the different A-level and leaving certificate completion rates, North and South. These differences are further exacerbated by evidence of a higher Covid and post-Covid grade inflation in the leaving certificate than in the A-levels. Given that university entry requirements are properly a matter for universities, I will add this to the agenda of our next Universities Ireland council meeting with a view to establishing a timely review and the progressing of any necessary adjustment as proposed. This could include a review of the language requirements discussed on page 18 of the report.

We agree with ensuring consistency in access to supports and pathways for students enrolling cross-Border. The extension of SUSI support to the payment of tuition fees to the four approved institutions in Northern Ireland, as is currently the case for postgraduate studies, is a matter for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Skills. In passing, a larger reform agenda of SUSI noted in the report is also to be strongly welcomed to ensure that students in need receive the support necessary to continue their studies. I would advocate very strongly for this.

We agree with providing a Brexit guarantee to give certainty to all current and prospective students. Further certainty and detail in this regard would greatly support cross-Border mobility and the ability of students to plan in that regard. With regard to the Erasmus+ programme, further detail of the mechanism by which this would operate would be welcome. While likely dependent on broader EU considerations, the reciprocal arrangement for students studying in Northern Ireland outlined on page 21 of the report is to be welcomed, as it is consistent with the spirit of the Erasmus+ support provided via Republic of Ireland institutions.

Regarding delivering on commitments made in New Decade, New Approach, this is a policy decision but we note that it refers to supporting one member of Universities Ireland.

We strongly support increased investment in North-South research funding, given the importance of research at scale in addressing societal issues. We encourage a competitive, multi-institutional and multidisciplinary approach to such investments. We particularly support the potential for increased levels of funding "specifically for analysis of all aspects of North-South relations, cooperation and integration", as suggested on page 29 of the report. This does not only have a direct and positive impact on North-Southrelations and on our communities North and South. It also has the potential to be internationally impactful and distinctive, given our shared experience on the island of Ireland.

We also encourage the committee to consider support for east-west research partnerships between the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland and Great Britain as a means of fostering a parity of co-operation across jurisdictions and between our different communities.

On the timely implementation of a sustainable funding model for higher education, we strongly agree that many of the proposals outlined in this report will be contingent on putting a sustainable funding model in place for third level education. The implementation of those funding commitments, as outlined in the Funding the Futuredocument, must be the first step towards ensuring the higher education sector is adequately funded.

Staff-student ratios, SSRs, in British universities are as low as 12:1. They are significantly higher in the Republic of Ireland and will remain higher even with the investment envisaged in Funding the Future. The student experience is defined by many things, none more so than SSRs. Increased investment in higher education is, therefore, a prerequisite for a student experience that properly and decently serves and invests in student mobility and our students.

In relation to publishing a new student accommodation strategy, the availability of student accommodation is a complex issue Europe-wide. It is not confined to the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. We also note that relative wage rates and, consequently, differing purchasing power North and South, render the Republic of Ireland less affordable for students from Northern Ireland. In that context, we acknowledge the work done to date in this regard and support the further development of a new student accommodation strategy to deliver affordable accommodation, North and South, particularly for students in need. We have advocated strongly for this.

On increasing cross-Border public transport links, we join the committee in welcoming the current strategic rail review which is being conducted on an all-island basis. We also agree that more progress is needed with regard to public transport links, particularly outside the eastern rail corridor between Belfast and Dublin. We also support such initiatives in the light of the urgent need for climate action.

In conclusion, we welcome this report and the committee’s interest. Fáiltímid roimh a dtuairisc. We look forward to working with the committee and policymakers more generally in advancing our common interests in and for our students, North and South.

Go raibh maith agaibh arís. Tá me ag súil le díospóireacht agus ceisteanna mar is dúil daoibh.