Pádraic McCormack (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Question 1549: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the steps she proposes to take to widen and improve access to third level education for marginalised groups which would include individuals from low income backgrounds, mature and part-time students, students with disabilities and students from minority groups; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [1598/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is managing a focused programme of investment in measures from early education to improve access to and participation in higher education by students from under-represented groups in that sector.

There are clear indications that the increased investment of resources in this area over the last decade and more is now paying dividends and that targets for participation in higher education that were set in the 2001 Report of the Action Group on Access to Higher Education and the last National Development Plan 2000-2006 have been reached. For example, participation by mature entrants to full-time higher education has grown from 4.5% in 1998 to almost 10% in 2006. Students with a disability have risen from 0.8% of the undergraduate population in 1998 to2.4%. Surveys conducted by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) also indicate that access to higher education by young people from under-represented socio-economic groups continues to improve. For example, in 2004 between 33% and 40% of young people from the semi- and unskilled socio-economic group nationally went on to study in higher education compared to only 23% in 1998. These targets will be reviewed and new targets developed in 2007, particularly as linked to the implementation of the new National Development Plan 2007-2013.

The access programmes of third level institutions are targeting students in the first and second level sector, adult learners returning to education, learners with a disability, members of the travelling community and more recently members of new migrant communities in Irish society. In 2003, the National Office for Equity of Access to Higher Education was established as part of the HEA to co-ordinate and develop policy and funding measures to improve access to higher education by under-represented groups to all publicly funded third level institutions. A new funding model, being phased in by the HEA from 2006 onwards, will reflect further progress by higher education institutions in improving access for these groups.

In addition to the very substantial student support measures managed by my Department, including the targeted special rate of maintenance grant, in 2006 the National Office managed the allocation of over €16 million in Third Level Access funding for the direct support of students through the Fund for Students with a Disability, the Student Assistance Fund and the Millennium Partnership Fund. This led to improvements in the timing and guidelines for the allocation of these funds. In 2006, over 2,000 students with a disability received funding from the Fund for Students with a Disability — an increase of some 330 students (20%) over the previous year.

The National Office for Equity of Access to Higher Education is currently implementing a three-year Action Plan for the period 2005-2007. One of the key outcomes of this plan has been the first national evaluation of higher education access programmes. A practical framework of policies and initiatives that are required for a successful access programme has emerged from this evaluation process. This framework will underpin and inform the work both of my Department and of the National Office and its partners in the higher education sector going forward. Implementation and the monitoring of progress will also be linked to the strategic development and allocation of core funding, including access funding, by the HEA and the allocation of increased third level access funding through the new National Development Plan 2007-13.