Results 9,581-9,600 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Authority (29 Apr 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 to the institutions via the recurrent funding model. Top sliced, ring fenced funding for specific strategic or important purposes is a component of the funding model in addition to the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Universal Support Ireland (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The Student Grant Scheme is the principal support for students in financial terms by my Department. It provides grant assistance to eligible students attending approved full-time courses in approved further or higher educational institutions who meet the prescribed eligibility criteria of the relevant scheme. The Scheme is administered on behalf of my Department by the national student grant...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Departmental Expenditure (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The provision of funding for Higher Education on an annual basis is part of overall expenditure management and budgetary policy. In 2021, exclusive of further education (programme A) and research allocations (programme C) total planned exchequer (programme B) and NTF funding of the HE sector for 2021 is in the order of €1.98billion. Calculations in relation to conventional measures...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Institutions (29 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: Officials in my department are engaging with the HEA to confirm the allocations and the details will be communicated to the Deputy as soon as possible. Seperately my Department provides funding to institutions outside the remit of the HEA. Funding provided in the period 2014 to 2020 is outlined in the table below.

Residential Tenancies (Student Rents and Other Protections) (Covid-19) Bill 2021: Second Stage [Private Members] (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: Deputy Pringle will be relieved to know that I cannot sing. He will also know the biggest issue facing students is Covid-19, so he will excuse me for continuing to speak about it. If we get the next few days, weeks and months right, we will begin to address and rectify so many of the difficult and horrific challenges young people in this country have faced. I thank Deputy Ó Broin...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: EU Funding (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: REACT EU is a €47.5bn initiative under the European Recovery Instrument to respond to the impact of COVID-19 and to prepare a green, digital and resilient recovery of the economy. The funding allocations are allocated in two tranches, for 2021 (80%) and 2022 (20%).  The allocations will  top-up existing 2014-2020 cohesion policy programmes and Member States can allocate the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Nursing Education (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 732 and 775 together. The information requested by the Deputy on the quota for nursing students is available in the attached table. The figures are available from 2011 onwards as that is when funding for undergraduate nursing transferred to the HEA. The quota on EU nursing places is set by the Department of Health/HSE and any increases to the quota (as...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The timeframes for the claiming of all tax reliefs, including those on third level fees, are set out by the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 and are managed by the Revenue Commissioners. There are no current plans to revise these timeframes as they relate to tax relief on third level fees. However, these matters remain under review. Further information on the current tax relief scheme and...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Grant Scheme (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: Under the terms of the Student Grant Scheme, grant assistance is awarded to eligible 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.  In relation to support available for students studying abroad, the Student Grant Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 735, 774 and 777 together. The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the intake quota of medical students per year is available in the table attached. The Medical Education in Ireland: A New Direction report, known as the Fottrell Report (2006) outlined a recommended quota of EU and Non EU Medical Students. No further analysis has been conducted...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Erasmus+ Programme (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: According to the most up-to-date HEA figures, there are currently 1,026 students from Irish institutions abroad on Erasmus+. 

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: Neither my Department nor the Higher Education Authority collect the data on the number of students on joint programmes with institutions in other jurisdictions.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Education (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: According most recent enrolment data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency in the UK, there were 9,140 Irish students in the UK in the 2019/ 2020 academic year. The Department does not have ready access to data on the number of students in other countries beyond Ireland and the UK.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The decision to support Erasmus students was taken in the context of my Department's role as national authority for the Erasmus programme.  It is not possible to extend the arrangements for other categories ofstudents who travel outside the State to pursue their studies in other countries. 

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: My Department does not have data on the travel arrangements of students who travel independently to pursue studies outside of the Erasmus+ programme. In the main, these students undertake their studies independently and as a matter of personal choice.  It is therefore not possible to provide an estimate of costs.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The decision to support Erasmus+ participants with mandatory hotel quarantine was taken in the specific context of the Erasmus programme, for which my Department is the national authority. Ireland is designated as a programme country under the Erasmus+ programme. As part of the programme, each programme country must nominate a national authority to monitor and supervise the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: The decision to support Erasmus+ participants with mandatory hotel quarantine was taken in the specific context of the Erasmus programme, for which my Department is the national authority. Ireland is designated as a programme country under the Erasmus+ programme. As part of the programme, each programme country must nominate a national authority to monitor and supervise the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Pupil-Teacher Ratio (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: I wish to advise the Deputy that the additional investment required to reduce the staff: student ratio to 15:1 across the university and technological sector is €147.480m per annum. This is in accordance with the methodology used in the Institutional Profiles (published by the Higher Education Authority) and based on the 2017/18 enrolment figures for full time equivalent...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: In order to qualify for funding under the department's Free Fees Initiative  students must meet the criteria of the scheme including the separate residency and nationality/citizenship requirements in their own right. In order to meet the residency criteria a student must have been ordinarily resident in an EU/EEA/Swiss/UK state for at least three of the five years preceding their...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Language Schools (28 Apr 2021)

Simon Harris: English language education (ELE) in Ireland is a broad and diverse sector with the vast majority of activity undertaken by private sector providers. I am aware of the important contribution made by this sector and of the challenges that are being encountered given the substantial impact that the Covid-19 outbreak has had on students, teachers and providers. As part of the response to the...