There has been a substantial expansion of third level education over recent years across the OECD area. By international standards, Ireland has a relatively high proportion of graduates with certificates and diplomas. The proportions graduating with degrees and masters degrees here is close to the average for all OECD countries. However, our output of graduates from PhD programmes remains below average. In this regard the Embark initiative, which invests in people and ideas, is important, as are the funding programmes for postgraduates, post-doctoral fellowships and basic research grants. We must ensure we have sufficient people at PhD level if we want to attract the best research and development programmes to this country. This area concerns me and I hope the five year agreement as set out in April 2002 between the Department of Education and Science and IRCEST will continue thereafter to ensure we bring up the level of PhDs in the country to meet the present and future demands that a knowledge based economy requires.