Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

I am pleased to give the Minister for Education and Science's position on the motion. I will focus on the Government's commitment to the development of our higher education sector with a view to the realisation of the agenda set for the EU in the Lisbon strategy. This commitment also dovetails with the theme the Minister has chosen for our education Presidency, Building an Inclusive and Competitive Europe.

Higher education in Ireland is in a period of transition. The sector has undergone massive growth over the past few decades from a time in the mid-1960s when it was an elite system with less than 20,000 students enrolled. The development of the institutes of technology and major advances in participation rates have been matched by huge increases in public investment in the sector over recent years.

The massive growth in numbers participating, from approximately 40,000 as recently as 1980, to over 130,000 now, and the associated public funding investment was a hugely significant factor in the Irish economic success story of recent years, with the availability of a highly educated workforce being recognised as a key attraction for inward investment.

The world moves on and we need to ensure our higher education system is both responsive to and leading change in the world around it. Economically, we now face new challenges, most fundamentally through the need to achieve a successful transition to the knowledge and innovation society that is key to our future competitiveness and prosperity. The higher education sector and our capacity to produce leading edge research will be central to that transition.

In social terms, Irish society continues to evolve rapidly. Education is a key instrument in achieving broad social cohesion objectives and there are particular challenges for the higher education sector in achieving greater rates of participation from the traditionally under-represented and socially disadvantaged sectors in our communities.

These converging strands, including future competitiveness through the development of our innovation capacity, greater equity of access, quality and levels of participation present challenges that are many and varied. However, it is not enough to state objectives. If Europe is to achieve the goals it established at Lisbon we must be prepared to take action and to pinpoint exactly where change is be embraced and the old order disturbed.

It was in the context of these strategic goals that I invited the OECD to conduct a review of higher education in Ireland. The review team has just spent two weeks in Ireland engaging in a wide consultative process with all of the key stakeholders both within the sector itself and in the wider economy and society. Peer review is critical if we wish to achieve the goals that we share with our partners across Europe. The OECD review will provide us with an international reference point for the Irish higher education system as we move forward towards our shared aims. The team that has just visited us brought an unprecedented wealth and spread of expertise to their task. The selection of such a high powered team is indicative of the OECD's appreciation of this Government's recognition of the fundamental importance attaching to the development of higher education.

The outcomes that emerge from this review will be important in shaping the future contribution of our higher education system to achieving the goals of the Lisbon agenda. However, it is important we do not lose time in working towards those goals. A key area of policy concern surrounds the identified aim of increasing the numbers of highly skilled graduates, in particular in the fields of science and technology. In order to achieve this, the recommendations of the task force on physical sciences are being implemented as resources allow and we are beginning to make good progress.

From first to fourth level, it is absolutely crucial that future policy development and implementation must strongly focus on the development of skills in science, technology and engineering. This objective has been a key catalyst for much of our education policy over the last three years. While the OECD Education at a Glance report for 2001 indicates that Ireland is ranked in first place in terms of numbers of science graduates at university level, we cannot afford to be complacent. All of us with an interest in Ireland's future economic development will appreciate the importance to our future competitiveness of ensuring the numbers participating in the sciences at second and third levels are maintained and increased.

Important progress has now been made in regard to curricular reforms at leaving certificate, junior certificate and primary level, all of which are being or have been supported by national in-service programmes for teachers. We have made substantial grants available to schools at both primary and post primary level, including a capital grants programme for senior cycle science ICT and science equipment and a once off grant scheme to assist with the implementation of the junior certificate syllabus which will cost approximately €12 million. More than €10 million in equipment and resource grants were received by schools between 1999 and 2002. ICT integration projects in teaching and learning have been developed under the schools IT initiative and a new SCOPE initiative has been developed in partnership with RTE, the NCCA and the National Centre for Technology in Education.

Furthermore, reviews have been undertaken on mathematics, the grading of subjects in the leaving certificate, gender equity issues in science, and initial reports on teacher training. There have also been developments in foundation, bridging and progression measures to promote access to the sciences at third level.

These are key developments in ensuring we continue to develop a scientifically literate population for the knowledge economy of the future. It is equally important, however, that the lifelong learning needs of our adult population are addressed if our full economic potential is to be realised. Overarching all of the improvements taking place in the education sector is the development of a national framework of qualifications by the National Qualifications Authority, which was published in October 2003 in response to a key recommendation of the taskforce on lifelong learning. This is a significant step which will improve access, promote flexible assessment and accreditation processes and enhance mobility across the further and higher education and training sectors. In this era of lifelong learning, issues of access and certification should be clear for all citizens and a seamless web should exist for learners throughout their lives to have the maximum opportunity for access to education.

Producing high quality science and technology graduates in the numbers required is one task. A further challenge for Europe is to retain these skilled workers within the Union. In January, Time magazine, in an article on this subject entitled "How to Plug Europe's Brain Drain," gave due credit and recognition to the fact that "the Irish Government has put a new emphasis on science, especially the kind that can benefit the rest of the economy". It is heartening to receive that kind of international endorsement for our policies. The article referred in particular to the developing role of Science Foundation Ireland, which has seen its funding grow by 62% in 2004.

Science Foundation Ireland is one element of Ireland's rapidly developing research infrastructure. This infrastructure, which is key to our future prosperity, relies on the higher education sector at its epicentre. In this context, the programme for research in third level institutions, PRTLI, which is developing the capacity to support institutional research strategies is critical to our future strategic development. In a move welcomed by all key stakeholders my Department has resumed capital funding under cycle three of the PRTLI in 2004. This programme has already had a profound impact on our research environment with more than 800 researchers being funded in our universities and institutes of technology and 62 research programmes in 33 new research centres in place. It has placed a major focus on inter-institutional collaborative programmes and interdisciplinary research. Separate programmes of support are also provided for the two research councils, namely, the Irish Research Council for Science Engineering and Technology, IRCSET, and the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, IRCHSS, the technological sector programme, HEAnet and the North-South research programme. By developing infrastructure and building capacity in the higher education system, PRTLI is facilitating and enabling investments from a range of other sources, including industry. These synergies are imperative for the long-term development of the economy.

There is still a long road to be travelled by the Government so the commitment of funding to research and development is ultimately translated into the successful achievement of the Lisbon and Barcelona goals. The Barcelona target of 3% of GDP spending on research and development by 2010 is extremely challenging for governments and the private sector across Europe and points to a need for sustained shared efforts on a collaborative basis.

This is one element of the funding challenge facing higher education, both in Ireland and elsewhere in Europe. In Ireland, the proportion of moneys received by the universities from the State is now higher than ever before, averaging approximately 80% of public funding. Public expenditure on higher education has proportionately increased by 77% since 1997 and is among the highest in the OECD countries. I do not say that to decry the value of higher education. All taxpayers in this country are therefore making an enormous contribution to the higher education system, yet it remains the case that too few from the low socio-economic groups are enjoying a return on this public investment. It is imperative that we address this basic inequity. This is obviously important in social justice terms but also in terms of maximising the human capital potential of our population.

Higher education institutions must also acknowledge their accountability to the taxpayers, who are entitled to expect certain parameters of performance in return for the considerable public investment being made. As well as equity of access and relevance to economic needs, the institutions must be able to display a strong commitment to lifelong learning and standards of excellence in teaching, research and learning.

If we are to develop in line with our ambitions, we must address the difficult issue of future funding for the sector. We cannot afford to curb expansion in order to save money. We cannot increase the proportion of public money going into the third level sector at the expense of the rest of the education sector or at the expense of other sectors, such as health. Therefore, we must look at other ways of funding expansion that may involve increasing the private resources going into higher education.

It is important to raise the level of debate to include those questions and others relating to the dual roles of higher education, research and scholarship and how they can all be balanced in the development of this sector. The OECD review of higher education in Ireland has considered all those issues. Each step forward in addressing them will bring the Government closer to its common strategic role of making the European Union the most dynamic and competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.

I thank the Members of the House for the contribution that they have made this evening to this important debate, and I commend the motion to the House.