Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)

The Minister of State referred to entry into third level courses. The Department must examine the fairness or otherwise of entry requirements. For example, a student can enter a third level science course having studied only one science subject and ordinary level mathematics at leaving certificate level. He or she will be in a class with other students who will have taken physics, applied and honours mathematics, chemistry and biology in the leaving certificate. The Department should examine drop-out rates from science courses. My experience of studying at university was that many students drop out of science courses after first year. In many cases, these students were badly advised when they chose science in University College Dublin, University College Cork, the Dublin Institute of Technology or another third level college. We need to be straight with students who have taken only one science subject in the leaving certificate and inform them that they will be at a disadvantage if they study science at university.

The Departments of Education and Skills and Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, employers and the trade union movement have an opportunity to demonstrate that science and technology offer many job opportunities. In Limerick, for example, we have had job announcements in areas such as cloud computing. Unless we provide the appropriate educational infrastructure at primary, secondary and tertiary level, we will not be in a position to benefit from job opportunities in the technology sector. We must ask the reason so many young people are either not studying technology subjects or are dropping out of science courses.

While I welcome the Minister of State's response, a great deal of work needs to be done on this issue. All the stakeholders should be encouraged to engage in constructive dialogue with a view to increasing participation rates in science and mathematics at secondary and tertiary level.

See this speech in context