Dáil debates

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions

Third Level Courses Availability

2:30 pm

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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58. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 83 of 26 June 2014, if his attention has been drawn to the fact that his Department has in the past allocated funding to students undertaking the adult learning bachelor of arts course demonstrating at least limited departmental recognition of the value of such a course; the capacity for funding for a similar course in another non-private institution; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29674/14]

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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The position is that Ireland received funding for a European globalisation adjustment fund, EGF, programme to support redundant workers from SR Technics. This consisted of a personalised package of guidance, training, educational and enterprise supports which were delivered to the eligible workers concerned during an implementation period from March 2009 to October 2011. Measures included tuition costs of the ALBA degree in All Hallows which, normally being a part-time programme, was delivered on a tailored full-time basis to accommodate the specific requirements of these workers given the finite timeframe for EGF co-funded support. When this funding ceased, the Department provided a grant as a once-off measure to this cohort of students to complete their studies.

The Department allocates funding to the HEA for direct disbursement to approved higher education institutes and the internal disbursement is a matter for the governing bodies. The provision of courses is a matter for individual institutions as autonomous bodies.

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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As the Department already provided some funding to the students when the EU globalisation fund ran out, the Minister is well aware of the success and merits of the particular programme. All but one of the students who took part in the programme has gone on to employment or further education. He is also aware that All Hallows is involved in a consultation period currently, mostly concerned with restructuring of the college and possibly its closure. I understand the college has guaranteed at least one more academic year and hopes to wind down by 2017.

In view of the success of the ALBA programme, which is now being wound up, is any dialogue involving the Department, All Hallows and DCU going to take place in order to save it? As the Minister of State outlined, the programme is geared towards people who have in some cases been out of formal education for up to 30 years. The success of the programme is evident. I wonder if it is planned to enter dialogue in the interests of replicating the programme or allowing it to continue, either in DCU or in some other institution.

2:40 pm

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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It is important to state that All Hallows is a private college and is not in receipt of core grant funding. However, the Department provides grants in lieu of tuition fee funding to the college in respect of three approved undergraduate courses. This funding amounted to over €430,000 for the 2013-2014 academic year in respect of the 119 eligible students who attended courses for the full year. The ALBA programme referred to by the Deputy is a part-time course and is, therefore, not an approved course for free fees funding. A decision was made to provide specific funding - initially under the EGF and subsequently by means of the grant scheme - to certain students, namely, former employees of SR Technics who undertook the course on a full-time basis. When the EGF funding was withdrawn, the Department agreed to support the full-time qualifying students to complete their studies. These were ex-SR Technics employees who were undertaking the ALBA degree on a full-time basis. As already stated, the institutions are autonomous bodies in their own right. I hope this answers the Deputy's question.

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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I understand that they are autonomous. However, in light of the success of the ALBA programme, I wonder if dialogue is going to take place with DCU, which is the accrediting college in this instance. Have discussions taken place with All Hallows in the context of the course being provided under, for example, a social enterprise model? We are talking about people who were out of formal education for up to 30 years and who, with the help of the Government, returned to it. In that context, when the EGF funding ceased, the Department stepped in and provided moneys for the final two years. The merits of the programme are there to be seen. All but one of the students involved have returned to employment or have gone on to further education. In some cases, these people had been out of education for decades. It would be a mistake to bring this successful programme to an end, particularly as I am of the view that it could be facilitated in some other form or even expanded. Is the Department going to investigate the possibility of opening up dialogue with somebody in the context of the course continuing elsewhere, or will it consider the possibility of facilitating it under a social enterprise model?

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I am not unsympathetic to the case the Deputy is making, particularly in view of the impact the course has had on those individuals who, as he states, were out of formal education for such a long period. I contend that it is not necessarily for the Department to intervene. In circumstances in which a course of this nature could be provided by another institution, I would make the argument that it would be a matter for that institution to subsume it into its own programme of courses.

Photo of Jonathan O'BrienJonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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There is an issue around funding. The programme does not come under SUSI, so funding would have to be found elsewhere.

Photo of Seán SherlockSeán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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An exception was made. It must be remembered that it was a part-time course and that funding would not normally be provided in such circumstances. The Deputy referred to a particular institution, but there are any number of institutions throughout the State which could, subject to their internal criteria, subsume the course on a full-time basis. I do not know how the Department could intervene in that matter. In fact, I do not believe there is a mechanism to allow it to do so. It was a result of the EGF and the specific circumstances relating to SR Technics that an intervention was made in this instance, and there is no doubting the positive impact of that intervention. If that were the case, one could set a precedent in respect of any number of other courses which could be brought through the Department to be delivered out into specific institutions.

However, we must recognise the autonomy of individual institutions.