Brian O'Shea (Waterford, Labour)
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Question 22: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her proposals to assist third level institutions in making Ireland a centre of excellence in e-learning; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27310/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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I am very committed to supporting the use of ICT in higher education, as a means to enhance teaching and learning, to widen and increase participation in higher education, and to allow the institutions to develop excellence and international reputation in this area.

The Deputy will be aware that ICT is becoming an increasingly important part of the process of teaching, learning and research at third level. Internationally, there have been significant advances in the use of ICT as a means to enhance academic programmes.

Since 2000, the HEA in its funding allocations to the universities and other HEA funded institutions has used a small portion of the block grant to fund a strategic initiative scheme for the HEA designated third level institutions. This scheme allows institutions to make competitive bids for projects contributing to areas of strategic or national interest. In this context, the HEA has provided up to €1 million per annum for the development of technology in education over the past four years. The basic purpose is to use technology to enhance teaching and learning within the institutions, and a variety of pilot schemes have been supported in that time. The HEA is particularly anxious to use this scheme to foster collaborative proposals between institutions. This is particularly important in the case of technology in education, where investment typically needs to be large to achieve results.

The programme has supported the development of integrated pedagogy and technology support centres such as the Centre for Learning Technology, TCD, the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, NUIM, and the Learning Technology Unit, UCC. More recently the HEA approved a collaborative proposal from all seven universities for the implementation of a national digital learning repository. The basic purpose of the project is to investigate and develop a framework to enable development and sharing of digital learning resources between Irish universities. In 2005, with support from the Department of Education and Science the initiative has been joined by DIT and the institutes of technology, making it fully sectoral in scope.

In September of this year, the CEO of the HEA signed a memorandum of co-operation with the director of the Joint Information Systems Committee of the UK which has responsibility for e-learning developments in the UK, which is designed to foster and enhance co-operation in this area going forward.

The HEA's e-learning strategy is based on meeting the greater diversity of student needs, increasing flexibility of provision, and enhancing the capacity for integrating study with work and leisure through work-based and home-based learning.

The HEA is aware of the sizeable e-learning industry in Ireland and the opportunities this presents. It is keen to develop co-operation with IDA Ireland and the industry to make Ireland a centre for excellence in e-learning.

The Deputy will also be aware that in April of this year I announced my commitment to a strategic innovation fund, which will be used to support and enable change in the higher education sector. I have asked the HEA to develop proposals in relation to the structuring of a call for proposals. However, I have already signalled that proposals which incorporate developments in e-learning, as a means to support teaching and learning, and access, will be welcome.