Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

One of the big successes in Irish society has been the rapid expansion of higher education in recent decades. It has gone from where we had one in five of those aged between 18 and 28 in 1980 going on to higher education to now having more than three in five, with many others going into apprenticeships and further education and training. It has become much more accessible. Even in financially difficult times during the 2010s we saw the number of places expand from 200,000 to 245,000. In response to the challenges facing students because of Covid, the Government rightly expanded the number of places in higher education. The difficulty, as the Minister of State knows, has been that while we continued to expand the number of places, the commensurate amount of money has not been made available to fund these places.

I welcome the fact the Minister, Deputy Harris, has announced a specific fund of €307 million will be available in the very near future to address some of the core funding issues. However, I am concerned.The Minister has announced that there could be an additional 1,000 places provided in higher education this autumn, yet there is not complete clarity that those places will be properly funded. I welcome the expansion of places in higher education. It is important that we expand the number of places in apprenticeships and in further education and training, in particular in areas where we have skills shortages.

The indications are that the 1,000 places will be in the areas of medicine, healthcare, engineering and climate change. This is particularly welcome for those on medical and healthcare-related courses where, as we know, just over 40% of college courses that required 550 points or more last year used random selection in the allocation of those places. It is a very cruel blow to any student who has achieved those high levels to be excluded from a place. Expanding the number of places is welcome.

However the difficulty is that we have to have a very clear commitment that those places will be funded. If, for instance, as the Minister has said, expanding the number of places on medical courses will involve an additional 120 places being created over the next two years, that is something that is very welcome. Given that the full economic cost to the State of educating a student in medicine over a six-year period is in the order of €100,000 or even more, those 120 places will be an additional cost to the Exchequer of in excess of €12 million. If we are going to continue to expand our higher education system for every single additional place in terms of current expenditure, we need clarity that there are guarantees that the full economic cost will be covered.

In addition to that, there are also major challenges around capital costs. We cannot continue to squeeze more and more students into higher and further education places unless there is significant investment. If we talk to those involved in higher education institutions, they will all talk about the capital challenges they face. The expansion of higher and further education is incredibly welcome, but we have to ensure the model we use is sustainable and we need to give a guarantee, as a Government, that any new places that are created this year will be properly funded.