Results 39,341-39,360 of 46,575 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has recently sought expressions of interest from higher education institutions interested in building capacity in Dentistry, Pharmacy, Medicine, Nursing, and Veterinary from academic year 2024-25 or 2025-26. The closing date for EOIs was the 18th November. This process has been designed to respond swiftly to national skills needs, and EOIs are sought from...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The College of the Future Major Projects Fund will support the implementation of the vision set out in the Further Education Strategy. During my recent visit to Bray Institute of Further Education I was pleased to announce that Kildare Wicklow ETBs strategic assessment proposal to develop a Further Education College on the Bray campus was successful in the first stage of the assessment...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The decision on eligibility for a student grant is a matter, in the first instance, for the centralised student grant awarding authority SUSI (Student Universal Support Ireland) to determine. For student grant purposes, students are categorised according to their circumstances either as students dependent on parents or a legal guardian, or as independent mature students. A student may be...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Regarding student accommodation I am conscious that some students are struggling to find affordable accommodation and fundamentally the challenge is one of supply of housing more generally. As a country, we know that we need to dramatically increase the supply of all types of housing and accommodation, including student accommodation. That is why the Government launched Housing for All, led...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Since taking up office, both my Department officials and I have engaged and continue to engage on an ongoing basis with the Minister and Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the wider higher education sector and relevant stakeholders on student accommodation issues including within the context of the advancement of the Government's Housing for All policy. My Officials have...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Teacher Training (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: I wish to advise the Deputy that the process for the approval of the intake on the Primary Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) programme and Professional Master of Education (PME) programme for the 2023/24 academic year has commenced and remains under consideration by the Department of Education. Once approved, the State-funded HEIs will be advised of this. The intake to the B.Ed. at the State...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Apprenticeships are employer led demand-driven educational and training programmes that aim to develop the skills of an apprentice in order to meet the needs of industry and the labour market. As apprentices are employees the demand for and number of apprentices is primarily dictated by the employer base in any area or sector. The Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025sets out new ways of...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Significant focus has been given by my Department to strengthening the skills ecosystem in Ireland to ensure it has the agility and flexibility to adapt to changing priorities in the skills landscape and the rapid, technologically driven changes that we are seeing in the world of work. This is essential to ensuring that Ireland continues to have a skilled and productive workforce. My...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Contracts (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: My Department makes a return of contracts awarded without a competitive tender as part of the annual Appropriation Account process. There were no cases to be reported in respect of 2020, Details in respect of 2021 cases are listed in tabular form below. During 2021, two contracts were awarded on a non-competitive basis with a total value of € 297,000. The report in respect of 2022...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Education and Training Provision (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The College of the Future Major Projects Fund will support the implementation of the vision set out in the Further Education Strategy. During a recent visit to Galway earlier this week, I was very pleased to announce that Galway Roscommon ETBs strategic proposal to develop a Further Education College in Galway city was successful in the first stage of the assessment process under the FET...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (1 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: As part of Budget 2023, I secured a significant cost of living package for third level students, including a once-off €1,000 state financial support towards the undergraduate student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for my Department’s free fees schemes. Students attending part time courses are not eligible for the free fees schemes and therefore the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (7 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The primary focus of the Strategic Infrastructure Upgrade Fund (SIUF) is to support ETB capital projects that will upgrade existing FET infrastructure and provide a high quality teaching and learning environment, aligned with the principles of the FET College of the Future. The assessment of all proposals received under this programme call was recently completed, by an evaluation team,...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (7 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: As part of Budget 2023, I secured a significant cost of living package for third level students, including a once-off €1,000 state financial support towards the undergraduate student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for my Department’s free fees schemes. Funding through this once-off measure is available to full time undergraduate students eligible for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (7 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: As part of Budget 2023, I secured a significant cost of living package for third level students, including a once-off €1,000 state financial support towards the undergraduate student contribution fee for higher education students eligible for my Department’s free fees schemes. Funding through this once-off measure is available to full time undergraduate students eligible for the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (7 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Please see the spreadsheet detailing the number of newly certified apprentices to date in 2022, as per the latest data available. Number of Certificates issued in 2022 to date Month Issued Number February 706 March 330 May 271 August ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (7 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The information sought by the Deputy is not readily available. I have arranged for officials from my Department to forward the information directly to the Deputy's office once it is available.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Language Schools (6 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) (Amendment) Act 2019 contains a number of legislative provisions which are aimed at enhancing and strengthening the role of Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI) as a regulator of quality in the English language education sector. These measures include the establishment of a new national Learner Protection Fund and the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Apprenticeship Programmes (6 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: Under the Further Education and Training Act (2013), SOLAS has statutory responsibility for planning, funding, and co-ordinating Further Education and Training (FET) in Ireland. While it would not be appropriate for me, as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science, to comment on any individual case, I have asked Solas to respond directly.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (6 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: The data requested by the Deputy is contained in the table below. This data was sourced from the HEA student records system (SRS) for the academic years 2010/2011 to 2021/2022, which is the most recent available, and by course level, undergraduate and postgraduate enrolments. PT enrolments 2010/2011 2011/2012 2012/2013 2013/2014 2014/2015 ...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Data (6 Dec 2022)

Simon Harris: My Department sources its statistics on student enrolments from the HEA's Student Records System. The information requested by the Deputy is contained in the attached spreadsheet and includes part time enrolments by higher education institution from 2010/2022 to 2021/2022 academic years. The data provides both undergraduate and postgraduate part time enrolments. The enrolments for 2022/2023...