Pat O'Neill (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Ruairí Quinn, to the House. I now call Senator Healy Eames for the first Adjournment matter.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire. At the outset, I wish to say how productive I found our meeting yesterday when the Minister briefed us. I am pleased he is a genuine listening Minister. I am now asking him to listen to this case also, which is an unusual one. The person concerned has been to see me a number of times and is at her wits' end. She can get similar programmes funded elsewhere under the springboard initiative, but not the particular programme which facilitates her. She is mid-way through it at this stage. I am trying to establish why an unemployed mother is not being funded to do a part-time MBA at NUI Galway under the springboard initiative, considering that similar programmes in other universities are funded. The course in question is a part-time MBA at NUI Galway, which is not funded by the springboard initiative. Other MBA courses - including the one at the University of Limerick - are funded even though they are carbon copies of the one at NUI Galway.

At this stage, the woman has been around all the Departments but has had no luck, hence my reason for raising this matter on the Adjournment. The mother in question has been unemployed since February 2009, having successfully operated her own travel agency business for 12 years. She is a single parent with two grown-up children currently in third-level education. She raised her children on her own with no other form of financial support and is pleased to have done so. When she had to cease trading as a travel agent due to the erosion of the business via direct Internet bookings, she was fortunate to gain full-time employment within three weeks as a business development manager with a local company. At that stage she realised that, although she had many transferable skills to bring with her, the lack of a third-level education would be a major stumbling block in progressing her career. She therefore undertook a four-year, part-time bachelor of commerce degree at NUI Galway. However, as she completed two years of the B.Comm there, herself and two other B.Comm students were recommended, and allowed, to transfer to the MBA course at NUI Galway due to the grades they had received, in addition to the business experience gained through their working careers. The transfer was therefore a recommendation. She felt that moving on to the MBA would enhance her prospect of gaining employment and she still believes that.

She is now in a situation where she will be unable to finish her MBA this year as she cannot fund the course. I have done the maths with her every way but she is exasperated. She has applied for various other level 9 courses through the springboard initiative. She was advised that she was eligible to undertake the following courses and that funding would be made available to her: an MBA at Athlone IT; a BA in business and entrepreneurship at IADT, Dún Laoghaire, which has similar subjects; an MA in business at UCC; an MA in science and strategic management at UL; a postgraduate diploma in science at IT Sligo; and a specialist diploma in innovation management at UL. She has met the eligibility criteria for all these courses, but would have to travel at least twice a week to the various institutions around the country to undertake them. Her MBA in Galway covers the following subjects: strategic management, entrepreneurship and innovation, Irish economic policy, enterprise architecture, management, HR, leadership and change, information systems, innovation and strategic marketing.

Eliminating the BA courses from the list I cited, she has a valid point in comparing the content of the programme in Galway vis-À-vis the content of the MA and other postgraduate courses. The subjects she has undertaken in the MBA course are similar to those listed in the other courses I mentioned. As of last Friday, she had contacted the University of Limerick with regard to the MA course in project and programme management, which is advertised on the springboard website. There is still availability on that course. Therefore, funding is still available by the current administration and it has not yet been depleted. Is it possible that some of this funding could be transferred to the cost of her MBA at NUI Galway so that she can finish her course?

The Minister should not forget that this woman was already advised to transfer from the B.Comm course to the MBA one. At this point she does not have any third-level qualification and feels she is stuck between a pillar and a post. She genuinely hopes she can gain some form of funding as she is enjoying her studies and feels she is a better business manager and has a clearer understanding of what businesses need to do to remain competitive and innovative in order to survive. She has gained this knowledge since undertaking the MBA course. I appeal to the Minister on this person's behalf.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I thank the Senator for raising this issue. I have listened with some interest to what she has said. I note the question that was specifically put to me relates to whether the person in question can get funding under the springboard initiative. Therefore, my official reply will be restricted to that, but I will pursue it beyond the points raised by the Senator. Let me, however, read into the record the note that has been provided for me.

Springboard is a specific initiative to provide 6,000 part-time higher education places targeted at unemployed people who have lost jobs in sectors where employment levels will not return and who will need new qualifications and skills to re-enter employment as the economy recovers. It is designed to support a return to employment for people who have lost their jobs as a result of the recession, and also to ensure that there is a better skills match between industry needs and higher education graduates. A competitive call for proposals under springboard issued in early 2011. It was open to public, private and not-for-profit higher education providers for programmes, which provide for awards between levels 6 and 9, on or aligned with the national framework of qualifications.

The tendering documentation for springboard was developed in close collaboration with the expert group on future skills needs and with input from industry representatives to ensure that programmes would be provided in areas where future employment opportunities are expected to arise. Detailed research by Forfás on skills areas where there are identified job opportunities and skills shortages in the economy accompanied the call.

No proposal was received from the institution concerned as part of the competitive tendering process to have the course, referred to by the Senator, funded under the scheme. It is therefore not possible to fund students on this course through the springboard initiative.

Having said that, the Senator has put on the record a number of interesting details. In my background notes, I have some information on the person involved. I would be quite happy to determine whether we can explore it further. I would not want in any way to offer false hope in regard to it.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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The dilemma is that the institution in question did not apply for the funding.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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That is my understanding.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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I will forward the case to the Minister so he can follow up on it. I would appreciate it if he would revert to me on it.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I have received the documentation from the Senator and will be in contact with her directly.

Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)
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That is much appreciated.