Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 170: To ask the Minister for Education and Science her plans to support part time students at third level, particularly those who left formal education without a qualification; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13485/08]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Paragraph 7.9 of Part VI of Towards 2016 contains a commitment to establish a targeted fund to alleviate fees in Higher Education Authority (HEA) supported public institutions for part-time courses at third level for those at work who have not previously pursued a third level qualification. A €10 million fund, drawn from the National Training Fund, is available with the aim of meeting the above commitment. As an initial step towards meeting this commitment, a pilot Modular Accreditation Programme commenced in Tallaght Institute of Technology last October, and the HEA intends to develop other pilot programmes to be launched this year. These pilot programmes will prove useful in testing the demand for the next phase in meeting the commitment. The fund will also support a scheme to be developed in close co-operation with the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. In designing this scheme, the Government will have regard to the following objectives: targeting people in work who have not had the opportunity to pursue third level education previously to level 8 on the National Qualifications Framework; reducing the amount of fees that workers pay; maintaining the current benefits in relation to employer support and tax relief available to workers in respect of third level fees; and allowing for a part refund to be paid on successful completion of each academic year of the relevant course. Officials from my Department will be in touch with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and ICTU shortly to advance the development of this scheme, and will liaise with education and other stakeholders, with a view to having any new arrangements in place in respect of courses commencing from September 2008. Given this timing the full annual cost will arise in the context of the 2009 estimates.