Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil supports, and in government introduced, an international education strategy that endorses and promotes the internationalisation of universities. We supported this Bill in the Seanad and, in principle, we support its passage here. However, we want reassurance from the Minister that allowing certain colleges to describe themselves internationally as universities will not undermine the standing of Irish universities.

While this Bill will allow additional third level institutions to market themselves as universities abroad in their attempt to attract higher numbers of international students, the Government must do much more to arrest sliding quality standards in third level institutions that have been brought about by the savage cuts in the sector.

We acknowledge the importance of the main element of this Bill, allowing additional third level institutions to describe themselves as "university" for marketing, branding and research purposes outside the State under the condition that these institutions can already make awards to doctoral degree level in the State and already have at least 40% of their registered students from outside the EU. The need to allow these institutions to describe themselves as universities outside of the State has arisen from the concerns expressed by some institutions that the word "college" has less pulling power than "university". In the United States, for example, a college is assumed to mean a second level institution. Therefore, the change is to be welcomed as part of an overall strategy in promoting Irish education abroad.

We welcome the fact that the key beneficiary of this will be the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, which already has a significant number of international students. The Bill will allow it use the term "university" for marketing purposes or for engaging in collective projects related to training and research. On this basis, we support the Bill in principle. However, as I stated, we want reassurance from the Minister that allowing certain colleges to describe themselves internationally as universities will not undermine the standing of Irish universities.

We are fully committed to promoting Ireland as a centre for international education. However, any efforts and strategies in this regard must be sustainable and, most importantly, they must have the needs of individual learners at their heart. The interests of students are at the core of our concerns. We believe that we must continue to offer international students a high-quality education and a unique student experience that is based on strong integration with their Irish peers. We also believe that the Irish education brand needs to prioritise quality teaching and quality research metrics. As a small country with relatively limited brand recognition in key markets, Ireland's entire international education offer needs to be based on the quality of its outputs. The quality of Irish education needs to become Ireland's main strength in these markets and needs to be the key element of any brand marketing pursued in new and existing markets. An internationalisation strategy that emphasises and prioritises quality will also be of benefit to Irish universities and to Irish students. It will allow Irish universities to target international students who themselves are of both high quality and high value, thus meeting our collective long-term strategic goals in an optimal and efficient way.

As Fianna Fáil set out in its international education strategy 2010-2015 during the previous Government, the promotion of Ireland as a destination for international students should not seek to position Ireland as a mass-market player. The central principle guiding efforts to promote Irish education to international students under that strategy was long-term and sustainable, recognising that our eventual success would be judged not by how many international students we educated but by who we educated and how well we educated them. The international education strategy recognised that in a world of increasing globalisation and interconnectedness with the emergence of new powerhouse economies and the reorientation of the world economy, Ireland needed to take a strategic approach to developing relationships that will be of national importance in the coming years. It recognised the need to develop mutually beneficial relationships with countries which are strategically important to Ireland's long-term national interests.

The ambition we set out in this five-year strategy was for Ireland to become a global leader in the provision of high-quality education to the next generation of leaders, entrepreneurs and decision-makers, who will make a difference in their own countries and who will form vital networks of influence for Ireland. As was pointed out at the time, we have strong advantages in this area. Our education system has a long history of international engagement and is globally respected. Other advantages stem from ours being a small, safe and friendly country, a member of the European Union and with extensive global links through our diaspora. As an English-speaking country with a unique cultural heritage and universities that are respected, are held in high esteem and have a long lineage, we are well positioned to attract international students. It was on this basis that we brought forward a partnership-based strategy, looking to build on our inherent advantages to position Ireland as a world leader in the delivery of high-quality international education by providing a unique experience and long-term value to students.

Since the launch of that strategy, universities have seen significant increases in the number of international students enrolled from the key countries targeted. The United States is a priority market for the promotion of Irish education under the international education strategy. The most recent US data, from the Institute of International Education, indicates that Ireland has retained its position as one of the top ten destinations of choice for US study-abroad students, those being students who spent part of their programme studying overseas, showing 9% growth year on year during the period. Despite strong international competition, 7,640 US study-abroad students chose to do their period of study abroad in Ireland in 2013, compared with 7,007 in 2012 and 6,798 in 2011. In addition to the study abroad segment, more than 1,000 US students came to Ireland on a full-time higher education programme. Students have also increased from emerging countries, especially India and China. Latest available data suggest that there has been a 142% increase in study applications from India since 2012 and a 9% year-on-year increase from China during the same period.

While the international education strategy since 2009 has been a success, the Government needs to give greater support to third level institutions to help them attract international students. In particular, the Government must do more than this Bill to boost the international reputations of our third level institutions and provide them with the resources to compete internationally. There has been a progressive reduction in Exchequer support for universities and institutes of technology. On the one hand, these cuts have increased the need to diversify resources, something to which the universities are committed, as reflected in the fact that a significant proportion of university funding is now from private sources. However, reductions in funding and head count, on the other hand, inevitably have a knock-on impact on certain metrics such as student-to-staff ratios and research and publication output. These declines feed into Ireland's ranking performance and our international competitiveness, and hence their attractiveness to international students.

While this Bill will allow additional third level institutions to market themselves as universities abroad in their attempt to attract higher numbers of international students, the Government must do much more to arrest sliding quality standards in third level institutions that have been brought about by cuts in the sector. Exchequer funding of all higher education institutions has been reduced by 32% in the past four years and there has been virtually no State investment in capital infrastructure in Irish universities and colleges over the term of Government. These funding cuts have taken place while numbers enrolling in the sector have soared. Despite increasing student fees, the Government has cut back on third level spending over the three years. Colleges and universities cannot be expected to maintain the same high standards while having substantial funding cuts imposed upon them. There is a real fear that these cuts damage teaching and research reputations at third level and make these institutions less attractive to students from abroad. The Government must do more than this Bill to boost the international reputation of our third level institutions and provide them with the resources to compete internationally.

Cutting the capitation funding to higher education has put universities and colleges under significant pressure. These cuts are having a detrimental impact on teaching and quality standards and, ultimately, students' education may suffer. Decisions like this have undoubtedly contributed to Irish universities' decline in international rankings. For instance, it is extremely worrying to see the country's largest university drop out of the top 200 rankings. Three years ago, UCD was ranked among the 100 best universities in the world, and this dramatic decline must cause concern to all.

The Minister must ensure that funding levels are maintained and investment in facilities, teaching and research is increased in order to protect third level standards and to prevent any further decline in the rankings. The scale of the cuts that have been levied on the education sector in the past three and a half years is no longer sustainable, and in terms of standards, is most definitely not affordable.

With regard to the other elements of the Bill, we welcome the amendment of the Student Support Act 2011, which ensures a basis for the Minister to prescribe PLC courses for the purpose of the student grant scheme. Again, that is a vital area of education which has suffered significantly in recent years. We hope the small measure announced in the Bill represents a sea change from the previous Minister's neglect of the PLC sector. Several issues must be addressed to arrest the slide in quality standards and pressures in the sector.

In budget 2013 the then Minister, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, implemented a significant attack on the post-leaving certificate, PLC, sector. He provided for a two-point increase in the pupil-teacher ratio for PLC schools. He saved €4 million and the PLC sector suffered the loss of 200 whole-time equivalent teaching posts. Due to budget changes last year, the pupil-teacher ratio in PLC programmes increased sharply, from 18.7 to 19.8.

The allocation to VECs was cut by €13 million. Capitation rates in PLC colleges and VTOS programmes were also cut by 2%. As part of the social welfare budget it was announced that from January 2013 the €300 cost of education allowance payable to back to education allowance participants would be discontinued for new and existing participants. As a result of the changes, the number of vocational schools offering PLC programmes dropped from 139 to 131. The decrease in the number of colleges offering PLC programmes is reflected in a drop of 1,521 students taking such programmes in 2013 to 2014, bringing their numbers down to 34,003. We call on the Minister to do more than what is provided for in this Bill to support the further education sector and to reverse the cuts that have been imposed on the sector in recent years.

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