Results 35,761-35,780 of 46,522 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are autonomous and manage their own academic affairs including admissions procedures. The CAO process applications for undergraduate courses on behalf of the HEIs. Decisions on admissions are made by the HEIs who then instruct the CAO to make offers to successful candidates. As such, neither I nor my Department have a role in the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are governed by the Universities Act 1997, the Institutes of Technologies Acts 1992 to 2006 and the Technological Universities Act 2018. Within the meaning of these Acts, HEIs are autonomous bodies and are responsible for their own day-to-day management and operational affairs including dealing with policy and procedure in relation to fee collection or fee...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1150 and 1151 together. The Human Capital Initiative (HCI) programme was announced as part of Budget 2019, with a primary objective of underpinning the provision of additional capacity across the Higher Education Sector to meet priority skill needs for enterprise. It aims to increase capacity in higher education in focused programmes designed to meet priority...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: There is no specific disability category for data collection purposes  for learners with dyslexia in either higher or further education. Data is not specifically collected on the number of students with dyslexia in further education but it falls under the broader category of 'Learning, Remembering and Concentrating”. 4,300 students in Further...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Universal Support Ireland (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: Under the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is available to eligible students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the terms and conditions of funding, including those relating to residency, means, nationality and previous academic attainment.  The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for SUSI to determine....

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Project Ireland 2040 (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: Funding of €2.08m was approved to support an upgrade of the roof and other building fabric at the GMIT Castlebar campus in 2018. This recognised the health and safety challenge posed by the roof condition and responded to a recommendation of the Working Group on Developing a Sustainable Plan for the Mayo Campus of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology.  ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Regional Development (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: Allocation for the Regional Skills Fora subhead is as follows:  2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Allocation € 1,100,000 1,000,000 1,236,000 1,636,000 1,767,000 This provision covers the cost of salary and associated costs of the network of nine Regional Skills Fora Managers,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: National Training Fund (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: National Training Fund (NTF) expenditure includes an allocation for enterprise focused higher education provision. The purpose of the NTF Enterprise Focused provision is to provide skills-related recurrent funding in support of higher education programmes that are particularly oriented towards meeting labour market needs. The full and partial NTF funding of specific programmes, previously...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: In order to help mitigate the impact of the changes to the grading system in 2020 I announced the creation of an additional 2,225 places on high-demand courses in Higher Education Institutions. These places were provided in order ensure that as many students as possible could be accommodated on a course of their choice, given the unprecedented circumstances they faced. The subject areas...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: While Ireland is on Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID all further and higher education institutions will deliver the majority of their classes online with only essential activities held on site.  While it is appreciated that the COVID impacts are disappointing for students who had hoped to have as much time on campus as possible, these measures are necessary to support halting...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 presented unique challenges across the Higher Education and Further Education Sectors. Early on, a review was conducted by my Department in consultation with the Higher Education Authority and Institutes, Further Education and Training stakeholders to ascertain the impact of the crisis on the sectors. Following on from this review €216m of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Administrative Arrangements (24 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: The only applicable fines, charges or bills issued directly by the Department relate to Freedom of Information costs which can be paid via a cheque or bank transfer. In addition, public sector employees paid by the Department through the National Shared Service Office have the option to have 3rd party charges deducted from their pay and forwarded onto the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: I am aware that issues have arisen in relation to placement hours both for students of Social Care programmes and for placements more generally as the restrictions to combat the spread of Covid-19 have tightened. My Department is monitoring developments in this regard very closely. From the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, significant work has been undertaken by a stakeholder group...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Communications (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: The details sought by the Deputy, in regard to dedicated email addresses for both my Department and in regard to the bodies under the aegis of my Department, are contained in the tables below. Contact E-Mail Addresses for the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Minister_FHERIS@dfheris.gov.ie Contact E-Mail...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to HEA designated higher education institutions. The HEA allocates this funding as a block grant to the institutions. As higher education institutions are autonomous bodies, the internal disbursement of the allocated funding, including any expenditure on the items queried by the Deputy,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Protected Disclosures (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: There have been a total of 16 applications for Protected Disclosures made between 2017 and 2020 and to date in 2021. This figure relates to Protected Disclosures that were disclosed to the Minister under Section 8 of the Protected Disclosures Act from workers in the Education sector. 12 applications were deemed to come under the ambit of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. No...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Protected Disclosures (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: In accordance with Section 22 of the Protected Disclosure Act 2014, my Department published information on protected disclosures received during 2017, 2018 and 2019 on the Department of Education website:  www.education.ie/en/Publications/Corporate-Reports/Ann ual-Report/. No protected disclosures have been received from Department officials or retired officials from 2017 to-date.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Support Schemes (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: Under the Department's Student Grant Scheme, eligible candidates may receive funding provided they are attending an approved course at an approved institution as defined in the scheme. The definition of an approved institution is set out in Section 7 of the Student Support Act 2011 and Regulation 3 of the Student Support Regulations 2020. Private colleges operated on a for-profit basis are...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Universal Support Ireland (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 137 and 138 together. The Student Grant Scheme, administered by SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland), provides grant assistance to students attending an approved course in an approved institution who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those relating to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The means test...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Research and Development (25 Mar 2021)

Simon Harris: Gross Expenditure on R&D (GERD) expressed as a percentage of GDP/GNP/GNI* stood at an estimated 1.13%, 1.47% and 1.88% respectively in 2019. The OECD defines GERD as the total expenditure (current and capital) on R&D carried out by all resident companies, research institutes, university and government laboratories, etc., in a country. It includes R&D funded from...