Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, and I thank Deputy Clare Daly for raising it.

The Department of Education and Skills was informed by All Hallows College of its intention to wind down its operations. The President of the college indicated to the Department that its closure will be handled in an orderly manner. As the Deputy will be aware, All Hallows is a private college that specialises, inter alia, in the teaching of theology, philosophy, psychology and English literature. A linkage agreement has, as the Deputy noted, been in place between DCU and All Hallows since 2008. As a result of this agreement, All Hallows College became a college of DCU and all degrees are validated and accredited by the latter. The college is not an approved institution under the Higher Education Authority and it does not receive core funding from the Department. However, three full-time undergraduate courses in the college are approved under the Department's free fees initiative. Under the latter, the Exchequer meets the cost of tuition fees in respect of eligible students on approved full-time courses. In the case of All Hallows, the Department refunds the cost of tuition fees up to a limit of 130 students on the three approved courses. The college was paid some €440,000 for the 2013-14 academic year in respect of 119 eligible students who attended the courses to which I refer for the full year.

A wide-ranging reform programme of the higher education system is being implemented. This arises on foot of the modernisation framework contained in the national strategy for higher education to the year 2030. The latter recommends that continuing funding support for institutions such as All Hallows, which receive limited public funding for specific programmes, should be a matter for the Higher Education Authority and subject to ongoing review in the context of quality outcomes, overall demand and available provision within relevant regional clusters. In May 2013 the Minister set out his response to the Higher Education Authority's advice on future system configuration and confirmed the approach recommended. In its consideration of the limited free fees funding allocated to All Hallows, the Higher Education Authority concluded that existing provision should be continued.

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