Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement in the Seanad on the recent publication of details of applications through the CAO for third level places on courses commencing next September.

Our third level education system is critical in enabling people to reach their full potential as individuals and active citizens and in creating the skilled workforce that Ireland needs in order to develop an internationally competitive knowledge based economy. That over 70,000 people are considering embarking on a third level education programme is an extremely positive development for our ambitions to create a smart economy in which the vision, originality, creativity and invention of our people will support the creation of sustainable employment opportunities and high standards of living for everyone.

We have achieved an unprecedented expansion of educational opportunities in the last four decades. Ireland's higher education participation rate grew from 20% in 1980 to 55% in 2004 and is now estimated to be over 65%. There were 40,000 students in the higher education system in the 1980s, compared to more than 145,000 full-time students now, representing growth of almost 400%.

The number of applications received by 1 February for places in the 2010-11 academic year is up approximately 6% on the number for 2009. This increase is broadly in line with expectations and in line with the increase seen the previous year. The number of CAO acceptances in 2009-10 was 45,582, up 8.3% on the figure for the previous year which, in turn, had seen an increase of 5.4% on the figure for 2007-08. The trend of increasing applications for entry to higher education is to be expected at a time of reduced opportunities for direct school leaver entry to the labour market, reducing apprenticeship numbers and increasing demand for re-skilling and up-skilling among the broader adult population.

While demand from school leavers for third level places continues to grow, in recent years we have also seen an increase in the number of mature students in higher education. This trend is extremely welcome, given the up-skilling and re-skilling needs of the labour market. We are seeing evidence that people who have lost their jobs have taken the decision to return to education to improve their skill levels. This is an extremely positive development. While people at all skill levels are experiencing unemployment and new young graduates, in particular, are facing a very difficult labour market, a review of unemployment rates by age and educational attainment clearly shows that those with higher levels of qualifications are more likely to be in employment and less likely to be unemployed than those qualified at lower levels. People with higher levels of educational attainment will also be better placed to return to employment as the economy recovers.

Applications from mature students accounted for 14% of all applications in 2009, up from almost 12% in 2008. Last year more than 6,200 mature students accepted an offer of a higher education place through the CAO, an increase of 26% on the figure for 2008. Traditionally, higher education institutions have focused on the needs of the school leaver. The broader challenge now is to widen learning opportunities for all learners in higher education through more flexible modes of provision and more flexible entry mechanisms.

Research has shown that up-skilling adults requires flexible provision. The Department of Education and Science is working with the Higher Education Authority to support the expansion of opportunities for flexible learning in higher education institutions. An example is the recent development of www.bluebrick.ie, a website launched by the Minister for Education and Science last September. It is a flexible learning portal that lets a prospective learner search for and compare flexible learning courses in all the institutes of technology and also allows them to apply for courses on-line.

A number of new initiatives were developed in the higher education sector last year that specifically supported unemployed people to return to education and engage in up-skilling. These included the provision of almost 1,800 places for unemployed people on part-time undergraduate and postgraduate courses in areas that supported the goals of the smart economy, 900 places on short preparatory courses, 160 places on accelerated level 6 programmes and a special education programme for redundant apprentices. Higher education institutions demonstrated considerable flexibility and innovation in using the capacity within the system to deliver these responses by commencing programmes mid-way through the traditional academic year, providing shorter duration programmes and significantly increasing the opportunities for part-time study which enabled unemployed people to up-skill while continuing to seek employment. The higher education sector is committed to developing further up-skilling responses for unemployed people. Officials from the Department of Education and Science are working closely with other Departments, including the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and the Department of Social and Family Affairs, to support the development of such responses.

Despite the increase in student numbers, there are no plans for the introduction of a cap on the number of places in higher education. Our higher education institutions have been responding to the increasing demand by increasing the number of places they offer.

The Government is investing unprecedented levels of public funding in higher education, with funding provision for the third level sector — capital funding, recurrent funding, student grants, etc. — having increased by 33% from €1.5 billion in 2004 to around €2 billion in 2009. In the current budgetary climate higher education institutions are being required to achieve significant payroll and non-pay efficiencies. This is in common with all areas of public expenditure. A minimum 3% payroll cost reduction is being sought from the sector this year owing to the operation of an employment control framework to give effect to the Government's moratorium on recruitment. At a time of considerable pressure on budgets and staffing resources, this demonstrates a significant willingness on the part of higher education providers to respond to increasing demand. The Higher Education Authority is working closely with the institutions to effect economies across all levels of activity. The commitment of the institutions to accommodating current increased demand at a time of significant budgetary pressures is welcome. I note recent press reports that half of CAO applicants will not receive an offer of a place in higher education for the next academic year. I am concerned that such reports are creating unnecessary anxiety for school leavers, their parents and other potential students. Based on CAO acceptances of some 45,000 in 2009 and the current number of 2010 applications at some 71,000, the current ratio of applicants to places is of the order of 1.6:1. While this ratio may appear to be high, it must be borne in mind that in any given year the eventual number of entrants to higher education will be considerably less than the number of applications received. This is owing to a wide range of factors, including the fact that some applicants will not meet the academic entry requirements for their courses of choice, some applicants may decide to repeat the leaving certificate exam, while other applicants will decide to defer a place when it is offered. Some applicants who apply through the CAO also apply for courses elsewhere, for example, in Northern Ireland or the UK, and may decide to take a place on such a course in preference to a course offered through the CAO. Other applicants might decide to embark on a post-leaving certificate course or another education or training programme or simply change their mind about the decision to go to college.

While the increasing demand for higher education is an extremely positive development, responding to the needs of a growing and diverse student population while ensuring the system can deliver a high quality learning experience poses a number of challenges for the sector. These challenges are being examined by the high level group the Minister for Education and Science established to develop a new higher education strategy. The strategy process will examine how well Ireland's higher education system is performing, how it ranks internationally, how well existing resources are being used and how the system can be reconfigured to best meet the many challenges it faces over the next decade having regard to the key role it has to play in contributing to Ireland's economic recovery. The objective of this strategy process is to develop a vision and related set of national policy objectives for Irish higher education for the next 20 years with more focused targets for the sector for the next five years. The strategy affords a timely opportunity to review the environment for higher education and the challenges and changes that are having an impact on the sector. An examination of the overall operation, governance and resourcing framework are important elements of the strategy review. It is expected the new strategy will be completed before the summer.

I look forward to the debate in the Seanad and responding to comments made. As always, the quality of debate in the Seanad will be first class.