Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 111: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he is considering introducing university tuition fees for students once they have completed three years in college; if this represents a move towards the introduction of a general three-year undergraduate degree course in universities with students opting to specialise thereafter; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14346/04]

Noel Dempsey (Meath, Fianna Fail)
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There are no specific plans of the nature referred to by the Deputy under active consideration at present. The proposal referred to has been recently introduced as a suggestion into the wider public debate on the future of higher education in Ireland.

As the Deputy will be aware, I have invited the OECD to conduct an extensive review of higher education in Ireland in order to map a future strategy for the sector. This is set against a background of Ireland's strategic objective of placing its higher education system in the top rank of the OECD in terms of both quality and level of participation and by the priority to create a world class research, development and innovation capacity and infrastructure in Ireland. The OECD review will evaluate how well the Irish higher education sector is meeting these strategic objectives and will offer recommendations for future progress by reference to comparative performance in other OECD countries. The OECD review team brings an unprecedented wealth and spread of expertise to the task. It has undertaken extensive consultation with all key stakeholders in the sector during a visit to Ireland in February and is currently engaged in the complex process of formulating its report. Potential approaches to the future resourcing of the third level sector in Ireland are being considered as part of the review.

A wide range of suggestions and proposals have been put to the OECD team, both through the many formal submissions received and in the extensive discussions that it has undertaken. All of these are under consideration as part of its deliberations and should be considered openly in the context of the broad nature of the exercise being undertaken. I do not propose to pre-empt the outcome of the review at this time.

In common with all those in society with an interest in the development of our higher education system, I await the outcome of the review with interest and look forward to future dialogue on the next steps.