Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to extend springboard beyond its existing industry areas, in particular to those industry sectors which complement the existing areas. [17987/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Springboard programme strategically targets funding of free part-time higher education courses for unemployed people in areas where there are identified labour market skills shortages or employment opportunities. All courses approved for funding under Springboard are selected by an independent panel with industry and educational expertise, having regard to published selection criteria and following a competitive tendering process.

More than 10,000 places have been provided under the two rounds of the programme that have issued to date. A new call for proposals for courses to be run under Springboard 2013 was issued by the Higher Education Authority in February 2013 and is expected to provide for an additional 5,000 places. As per the call documentation, which is available at http://www.hea.ie/en/node/1502, to be considered eligible for approval, course proposals must seek to address an identified current or future skills need, include a precise labour market rationale, and where feasible, provide a work placement or internship.

It was open to higher education providers to submit proposals for funding in all enterprise sectors with current or emerging skills needs under the call. Proposals received by the closing date of 9 April are currently being evaluated and details of the courses selected for funding will be available in May following completion of the evaluation process.