Results 9,921-9,940 of 45,510 for speaker:Simon Harris

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I will try to go through the questions quickly, as I want to talk about the funding. We have three research funding agencies within the remit of my Department. We have Science Foundation Ireland, SFI, the Irish Research Council, IRC, and then we have each of the individual higher education institutions, HEIs, which I will group together as HEIs. The current thinking of the Department is...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Dillon for his questions and for joining me at the recent meeting with the president of GMIT and the vice president who is based at the Castlebar campus. Castlebar is going to become a university town and Mayo is going to have a university presence. This has the ability to be transformational for Mayo, Castlebar and the north west of our country. I am really excited about...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I am happy to do so.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank Deputy Crowe. He is entirely correct that Ennis is going to become a university town and that the opportunities this will provide for the region are very significant. To update the Deputy, Limerick Institute of Technology and Athlone Institute of Technology submitted their application in November. We appointed the independent international panel in December. The panel conducted...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I will not tell the Deputy's wife.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I have yet to have a Gaeltacht experience myself but I know how hugely beneficial it has been for so many people and we need to continue to promote it. We are talking about people who require it as part of their qualification and studies. I have received much correspondence on this matter and I have sought advice from my officials. Somewhat surprisingly, I am told that it remains a matter...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I thank the Chairman and echo his thanks to the presidents, chairs and members of the governing authority, as well as all the staff of Waterford IT and IT Carlow. While we are moving to a new landscape in the south east, that does not in any way take away from the incredible work both institutions have done. In many ways we are trying to build on that success for the new model. I am taken...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: Future Expansion of the Technological Universities: Discussion (23 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I should have acknowledged earlier that the Minister of State, being from the mid-west, has taken a very keen interest in AIT and LIT. It is great to have that local knowledge of the region in our Department. I thank Senator Byrne for his comment on the hospitality sector. We will collaborate very closely with this sector which has been so badly hit. I could not agree with him more on...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Higher Education Institutions (18 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: Higher Education Institutions are autonomous institutions within the meaning of the Universities Act 1997, the Institutions of Technology Acts 1992 to 2006 and the Technological Universities Act 2018. Under this legislation the institutions are academically independent and are entitled to regulate their own academic affairs and administrative processes, and neither I nor my Department has a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (18 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I am conscious of the impact that Covid-19 has had on the leaving certificate class of 2021, and will take action as necessary to ensure that a full range of further and higher education options are available to them. I am aware of the high number of CAO applications this year, and my officials are engaging regularly with representatives from the higher education sector in relation to...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (18 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: The response for the Deputy is in the attached spreadsheet.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Further and Higher Education (18 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: The CAO process applications for undergraduate, and some postgraduate, courses on behalf of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Decisions on admissions, including deadlines for submissions of applications, are made by the HEIs who then instruct the CAO in this matter. The HPAT is independently administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) on behalf of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Covid-19 Pandemic (18 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 220 and 221 together. Information and reporting on Covid outbreaks, including those associated with higher education, is a matter for public health authorities in the Department of Health and HSE and is subject to patient confidentiality and GDPR requirements. Therefore the information requested by the Deputy is not held by my Department. In the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Youth Guarantee (17 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: The Youth Employment Initiative (YEI) supports the implementation of the EU youth guarantee. It is programmed as a dedicated priority axis with the European Social Fund (ESF) Programme for Employability, Inclusion and Learning 2014-2020 (PEIL). Ireland’s specific YEI allocation of €68m (for 2014 and 2015) is matched by equal amounts from our ESF allocation and from the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Fees (17 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: Under the Department’s free fees schemes, the Exchequer provides funding toward the tuition fee costs of eligible undergraduate higher education students with students paying the student contribution. The student contribution applies to all students on an annual basis, who are eligible under the 'free fees' scheme. The current rate is €3,000 per annum. Currently in excess...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (17 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: The CAO process applications for undergraduate, and some postgraduate, courses on behalf of the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Decisions on admissions, including deadlines for submissions of applications, are made by the HEIs who then instruct the CAO in this matter. The HPAT is independently administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) on behalf of the...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (17 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: I propose to take Questions Nos. 554, 566 and 567 together. I am conscious of the impact that Covid-19 has had on the leaving certificate class of 2021, and will take action as necessary to ensure that a full range of further and higher education options are available to them. I am aware of the high number of CAO applications this year, and my officials are engaging regularly with...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Student Accommodation (17 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: The latest available figures on supply and demand in the student accommodation sector, including the breakdown between private and university-owned accommodation, was published in 2017 and used data from 2014. My Department also tracks new developments in student accommodation, with the breakdown in the number of bed spaces completed in the private and HEI-owned sectors since 2016 available...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Third Level Admissions (17 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: Universities and Institutes of Technology are autonomous and determine their own procedures for admission. The CAO process applications for undergraduate, and some postgraduate, courses on their behalf. Decisions on admissions are made by the higher education institutions who then instruct the CAO to make offers to successful candidates. Therefore neither I nor my Department have a...

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: International Students (17 Feb 2021)

Simon Harris: My Department has informed the higher education sector that, at present, international travel for education purposes should only be facilitated for those international students for whom on-campus academic attendance is essential during semester 2, for example for necessary practical and clinical activities. The higher education sector follows a protocol which was put in place prior to the...