Results 7,001-7,020 of 46,267 for speaker:Simon Harris

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

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 146, 296, 297, 298, 299, 300, 302, 303 and 304 together. My Department is committed to engaging with all Departments and industry representative bodies to support them in their workforce planning needs. Ensuring we have qualified graduates to meet the skills needs of our workforce is a priority for my Department. Our higher education system has expanded...

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

Simon Harris: I intend to bring a Memorandum for Government to Cabinet as soon as possible in relation to the OECD Review of technological university academic career paths, contracts and organisation that was commissioned by the Higher Education Authority last year. In so doing I will also be proposing to my Cabinet colleagues a set of implementing measures arising from my Department's scrutiny of the...

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

Simon Harris: I thank the Deputy for her question on this matter. The Consent Hub is a public resource on consent for young people, their families, and educators who work with them. The targeted website sections provide user groups with concise, accurate information relevant to their needs that is designed to be empowering and positive. Users can then learn about further training opportunities. These...

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

Simon Harris: The difficulties faced by students in accessing affordable student accommodation is an issue of which Government and I are actively pursuing. We are committed to addressing supply of affordable student accommodation for priority group students attending publicly funded higher education institutions in Ireland. Fundamentally the challenge is one of supply of housing more generally. As a...

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

Simon Harris: The mental health and well-being of students is a priority for my Department. My Department has progressed a number of initiatives, in partnership with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), over the last number of years to address the mental health and well-being issues faced by students in higher education. My Department allocates funding for...

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

Simon Harris: The difficulties faced by students in accessing affordable student accommodation is an issue of which Government and I are actively pursuing. We are committed to addressing supply of affordable student accommodation for priority group students attending higher education in Ireland. In response to this issue and to increase supply, I brought proposals to Government on Tuesday setting out...

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

Simon Harris: The difficulties faced by students in accessing affordable student accommodation is an issue of which Government and I are actively pursuing. We are committed to addressing supply of affordable student accommodation for priority group students attending publicly funded higher education institutions in Ireland. In response to this issue and to increase supply, I brought proposals to...

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

Simon Harris: The importance of apprenticeships in society, both now and into the future, has never been more apparent than it is today. The ‘Action Plan for Apprenticeship 2021-2025’sets out new ways of structuring, funding, and promoting apprenticeships to make apprenticeship more accessible to employers and learners. Expansion to date has widened the impact of apprenticeship to areas of...

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

Simon Harris: The majority of our statistics on higher education enrolments are drawn from the Student Records System (SRS) of the HEA. The HEA Student Records System (SRS) has been collecting the entry basis of students entering higher education programmes from 2018/2019 academic year. The table below outlines the overall number of first-year new entrants accepted onto undergraduate nursing and law degree...

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...