Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms and conditions of the Vocational Education Committee Scholarship Scheme, which is administered by the VEC on behalf of the Department, generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants (maintenance and tuition fees) where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. An approved course for the purpose of the VEC Scheme means a full-time undergraduate course of not less than two years duration and a full time postgraduate course of not less than one year's duration pursued in an approved third level institution.

A mature candidate is categorised as either an independent mature student or mature student dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined to mean a mature student who is over 23 on or before the 1st January of the year of entry or re-entry to an approved course and was not ordinarily resident at home with his/her parents from the October preceding their entry to an approved course. Independent mature students are assessed without reference to either their parents' income or address.

When assessing the means of students other than independent mature students, the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. This provision requires that parental income be taken into account irrespective of the individual circumstances in any case where the student is not a mature student. Officials in my Department contacted the awarding authorities in Kildare and were advised that the student in question was not eligible to be assessed as an independent mature student. In addition, the student also failed to satisfy other requirements of the scholarship scheme.

John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 843: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the avenues open to a person (details supplied) in County Sligo to avail of financial aid while studying in Queensland in view of their circumstances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14466/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My Department funds four maintenance grant schemes for third level and further education students which are administered by the Local Authorities and the Vocational Education Committees. The Higher Education Grant Scheme operates under the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1968 to 1992. Generally speaking, students who are entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for maintenance grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means and nationality.

The decision on eligibility for third level or further education grants is a matter for the relevant local authority or VEC. These bodies do not refer individual applications to my Department except, in exceptional cases, where, for example, advice or instruction regarding a particular clause in the relevant scheme is desired.

The Third Level Student Support Schemes were extended to provide maintenance grants to eligible students pursuing approved full-time undergraduate courses of at least two years duration (pursued in a university or a third level institution which is maintained or assisted by recurrent grants from public funds) in other EU Member States with effect from the 1996/97 academic year.

The extension of the Schemes at that time did not include courses at postgraduate level or to courses outside the EU and, accordingly, there is no grant aid available under the schemes for students pursuing studies outside of the EU. Any extension to the scope of the maintenance grants schemes, can be considered only in the light of available resources and in the context of competing demands within the education sector.

I would like to make the Deputy aware of the Endeavour Programme, an internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship programme that forms part of the Australian Government's $1.4 billion Australian Scholarships Initiative. Further details of the initiative are available from the Australian Department of Education, Science and Training website: www.dest.gov.au/ International/Awards/endeavour/htm