Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

I am replying on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, Minister for Education and Skills. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue.

Springboard is a specific initiative to provide free part-time higher education places targeted at unemployed people who have lost their jobs as a result of the recession and who would benefit from upskilling or re-skilling to get back into sustainable employment. Places on Springboard courses are open to unemployed people who have a previous history of employment and there is no requirement that a person be progressing on the national framework of qualifications.

Since Springboard was first launched in May 2011, more than 4,300 unemployed people have been supported to undertake higher education programmes in areas of employment growth such as ICT, pharma-chem and the green economy. An analysis of the outputs to date shows that the programme has been very successful in reaching its target cohorts. A total of 77% of participants are aged between 25 and 49 years, 60% had been out of work for more than one year and 20%, the largest single group, were previously employed in the construction sector. Earlier this month the initial Springboard programme was expanded to provide an additional 500 places on 15 courses that had exceptionally high demand when they first ran in 2011. In addition, a further €10 million has been made available for the roll-out of a second programme of Springboard places in 2012. Details of the courses being funded and the number of places being supported will be available in May following a competitive tender process.

In response to specific skills shortages in the ICT sector, earlier this year my Department published a joint Government-industry ICT action plan aimed at building the supply of high level ICT graduates, a matter raised by Deputy Kyne in his contribution. One measure included in the plan is provision of more than 750 free places on 17 new graduate skills conversion programmes throughout the country. The programmes allow those with the appropriate qualifications to convert their skills during an intensive course of study in a higher education institute and a corresponding work placement in a collaborative company. Further details are available on bluebrick.ie.

Progression requirements are in place in respect of eligibility for student grants for general full-time higher education programmes. Students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for student grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. To satisfy the terms and conditions relating to progression, a student must be moving from year to year within a course having successfully completed the previous year or be transferring from one course to another where the award for the subsequent course is of a higher level than the previous course. The objective of this policy is to help as many students as possible to obtain one qualification at each level of study.

Given the high level of demand on the student grant budget from first-time students and students who are progressing with their studies to a higher level, there are no plans to change these general arrangements. However, the provision of free targeted places under the Springboard initiative addresses the concern raised by the Deputy regarding re-skilling opportunities for unemployed persons.

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