Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 502: To ask the Minister for Education and Science his views on the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes Report's recommendation that course fees should be introduced for mature students. [35613/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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I wish to advise the Deputy that although the Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure Programmes was of the view that third level fees should be re-introduced, it did not make any specific recommendation in regards to mature students. Under the terms of the Free Fees Initiative, the Exchequer meets the tuition fees of eligible students, including mature students, who are pursuing full-time undergraduate courses of study. The main conditions are that students must be first-time undergraduates and hold E.U. nationality, in their own right, and have been ordinarily resident in an EU member state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course.

Michael D Higgins (Galway West, Labour)
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Question 503: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if he has plans to insist that mature students receive the necessary training in order to maximise their employment potential; and if so, the nature of that plan. [35614/09]

Batt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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There is a wide range of further education programmes that are open to mature students which provide retraining and upskilling options. These are both full-time and part-time and are delivered through the Vocational Education Committees (VECs). They include the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS), a second-chance education initiative for persons who are at least 21 years of age and more than six months unemployed; Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses, which are full-time courses for students who have completed their Leaving Certificate and for adults returning to education; and the Back to Education Initiative (BTEI) which provides flexible, part-time further education options to enable persons to combine a return to learning with family, work or other commitments. BTEI courses are free for all adults with a less than upper second level education, including the unemployed. It is also open to mature students to apply for places on higher education programmes. Indeed, over 12,000 applications have been received from mature students for full-time higher education programmes for the 2009/10 academic year, an increase of 30% on 2008.

Mature students who secure a place on a full time programme may be eligible for support under this Department's Student Maintenance Grant Scheme. Provision of grants is subject to a means test and other eligibility criteria. Further information on how to apply is available on the Student Finance website: www.studentfinance.ie. Unemployed people may also be eligible to participate in the Department of Social and Family Affairs Back to Education Allowance Scheme. Under this scheme, unemployed people in full time education receive a Back to Education allowance which is equivalent to the maximum personal rate of the Job Seekers Allowance. Recipients also receive a Cost of Education allowance of €500 per annum.

Since the beginning of the year the Government has launched a number of new initiatives to support unemployed people return to education and engage in upskilling. In the higher education sector measures include 2,500 new places to enable unemployed people pursue undergraduate and postgraduate courses on a part-time basis; 280 places on a range of newly developed accelerated Level 6 Certificate programmes and over 900 places on a range of newly developed part-time transition programmes. In the further education sector, the Government has provided an additional 1,500 PLC places, bringing the total number of PLC places to 31,688 nationwide. The scope to introduce further labour market activation initiatives is under consideration by my Department in the context of ongoing discussions with other Government Departments on developing appropriate upskilling training and education responses for unemployed people.