Joe O'Reilly (Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the House that the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is taking the next Commencement matter.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I wish to say to the Minister that the budget had some very welcome moves in higher education regarding student fees and improving the SUSI grant. I am somewhat concerned about addressing core funding for higher education. I am sure that the Minister is aware from reading the Funding our Future policy document that the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, sought to quantify the scale of the investment needed just to address the funding crisis in higher education, and the Estimates are of the order of €307 million. The additional €40 million provided in the budget is welcome but that sum is a long way short of €307 million.

Our challenge at the moment is as follows. We know about the crisis in higher education. It is a good news story that we have an ever increasing number of people taking up third level places. I also welcome the fact that additional places are being provided again this year, particularly in certain critical areas for society and the economy. However, there is no point in continuing to create places if we do not address the underlying question of core funding.The issue has been kicked around for the past decade. It was welcome when it was quantified this year. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, committed to a programme of investment of €307 million. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, having worked at a university, will be familiar with some of the challenges faced by that sector in respect of a lack of space and the pressures on libraries, laboratories and other services. We need a timeframe for the sector for when we can talk about investing that €307 million. We must remember that money is just to address the current funding crisis within the sector. There are other issues, including those relating to student accommodation and so on. Those are separate challenges. This is about ensuring our higher education students and researchers are able to operate in world-class universities and higher education institutions. I was disappointed, given the level of the commitment supposedly received by the Funding the Future document, that the budget only went as far as the provision of €40 million. This country's social and economic future is going to be based on talent and our universities and higher education institutions are going to be at the heart of that. We must ensure the conditions in which students, researchers and academics operate are able to hold their own against other institutions around the world. At the moment, because of the funding crisis, they are unable to do so, as they say themselves. I hope the Minister can give us a timeframe, in the context of Funding the Future, for when we can address the deficits in the sector.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator. I appreciate his raising this important issue. I am happy to provide an update on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Harris, on Funding the Future and the implementation of a sustainable model for the future funding of higher education.

The Minister, Deputy Harris, launched the Funding the Future framework, along with the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, on 4 May. The policy is a response to the Cassells report and the Directorate General for Structural Reform Support, DG REFORM, reviews on the future of higher education. The Government has made important decisions about the sustainable model for the future funding of higher education and, critically, we have definitively taken student loans off the table. We have instead chosen a mixed model of investment, which includes funding from the Exchequer, employers and students. The policy sets out the vision and direction of higher education funding, our ambition to drive reform and support agility and responsiveness in the sector, and the need to ensure students are supported in accessing education and training. This includes the planned investment of €307 million to address core funding challenges for our institutions. This will be made over a number of years through annual budgetary processes. It does not account for future demographic needs or new policy proposals for higher education. There are plans to consider options to address cost as a barrier to higher education and how we will pursue funding measures on these issues through the Estimates process, including in respect of reductions to student contribution and enhancement to the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants in line with the student grant review.

The provision of higher education funding on an annual basis is a part of the overall expenditure management and budgetary policy of the Government. It is, of course, imperative that funding be made available to the Department to support these plans to progress reform, to implement a sustainable funding model while addressing the identified core funding gap, to improve pathways from further education and training, FET, to higher education, HE, and to address costs as a barrier to higher education.

The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science was pleased to announce significantly increased levels of funding as part of the recent budget. Over 2022 and 2023, an additional €150 million is being made available to the higher education sector. In 2023, additional ongoing core funding of €40 million is being provided to improve quality and sustainability. An additional €32 million is available to provide sectoral capacity for demographic demand. There is also an additional €20 million for pension costs. A further €56 million in once-off funding is being made available in 2022 for pension liabilities. The investments will facilitate €18 million for capacity building in linked key policy areas for universities and specialist colleges; €18 million for technological university transformation, specifically structural capacity strengthening; €2.4 million for increased funding for exiting medicine places to protect quality and enhance the sustainability of the system; and €2 million for a fund to support increased flexibility in delivery, including co-developed and co-delivered programmes across FET and HE.

This investment is the first significant step in addressing core underfunding of the higher education system in a strategic and reformative way. By providing capacity building for key roles, we are resourcing the sector to adapt and respond to key strategic reform measures. This progress has been expertly aided by the work of the Funding the Future implementation group co-chaired by the Minister and Professors Anne Looney and Tom Collins, which will now continue its remit to develop reform recommendations to inform the implementation of these measures and the development of future budgetary considerations.

In addition, the work of Funding the Future and a recent spending review realised a 25% increase in the level of demographic funding per additional student for the 2022-23 academic year. Through budget 2023, we also secured additional funding of €32.2 million to build capacity for up to an additional 4,125 students. Furthermore, as part of the cost-of-living measures in budget 2023, we also introduced a once-off allocation of €10 million to assist with rising operational costs faced by our FET and HE providers in 2022.

This significant allocation of public resources is a clear demonstration of the Government's commitment to meeting the future needs of the higher education sector to more fully realise its potential in contributing to economic and societal priorities that are central to the country's long-term sustainability.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I have no doubt but that there is commitment to the principles but I ask the Minister to show us the money. While an additional €40 million is welcome, no timeframe has been indicated as to when the critical issue of long-term underfunding is going to be addressed. He accepted that the level of underfunding is now of the order of €307 million but as yet no timeframe has been indicated for that to be resolved. Precisely as the Minister responded, we know this sector is going to be critical to the country's long-term development. We are continuing to expand places and not only for school leavers. We are all going to have to continue to upskill and reskill. That is not only a matter for our universities and higher education institutions but also for FET facilities. To achieve that, we must ensure there is real investment. I would have hoped for a clearer timeframe for achieving what was set out in Funding the Future.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator. The Government has also committed to continuing to address the cost of participation in third level education so that every person in our country can fulfil his or her potential and no person is denied access to education because cost is a barrier. In budget 2023, in recognition of the cost-of-living challenges faced by students paying the full student contribution fee, we have introduced a once-off reduction of €1,000 for the academic year 2022-23. This additional support towards tuition fees will benefit more than 94,000 students.

This week, we also announced a €75 million package to support students and families with the costs of attending higher education via the student grant scheme. As part of the package, the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science was pleased to secure agreement on the introduction from September 2023 of a new rate of student contribution support through SUSI that means up to 50,000 extra families may be eligible for help towards paying the undergraduate student contribution.

For the 2023-24 academic year, we are increasing the income limits to avail of the 50% undergraduate student contribution grant for families from €55,000 to €62,000, thereby creating new income thresholds for undergraduate student contribution support to the value of €500 for families on qualifying incomes of between €62,000 and €100,000. This is all in addition to €18.8 million in supports previously announced in budget 2022, and very much aligns with the approach outlined in Funding the Future to address access for students, which was covered in detail prior to the budget in the Government's first cost of higher education paper.