Mr. Tim Conlon:

I will comment on academic entry because it has come up a few times. We need to be cautious on this because academic matters are a matter for the higher education institutions which have expertise in academic matters. It is not for the State to define with regard to the economy of an institution what constitutes a good student for their programmes. However, as the Deputy is aware from his work, we have clear national strategies on diversification of entry to higher education. For example, there is the national strategy for equity of access, which talks not only about particular target groups but also diversity of entry routes and diversity of means of assessing students' access to and through programmes. That type of thinking is a feature of a number of the proposals which came into us. The institutions are certainly thinking about how they diversify provision and they think more broadly about the types of students they take into and get successfully through programmes. As Dr. Wall said, there is a regional balance to that as well with regard to the kinds of programmes. Could they retain students within regions and, more broadly, nationally? Would that encourage them to stay within their regions? Could there be a diverse set of methods of learning and learning outcomes?

There is a very broad consideration of those proposals. Part of the next step of the process, once we see what Government decides, will probably be to have a further conversation with institutions. They are definitely open to and very aware of that need for a diversity of offer and provision, while at the same time meeting the requirements of our colleagues in the Veterinary Council of Ireland. One has to maintain standards at the same time as opening up provision. Institutions are very wise to that and they are very keen that it becomes a feature of any additional offer or an expansion of an offer that might come through this process.