Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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550. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will report on the evaluation of Springboard; if the evaluation reports are made available; if she will report on the group charged with evaluating the programme; and her plans to increase the number and scope of the courses available to jobseekers. [4993/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The evaluation framework for Springboard provides for ongoing monitoring and evaluation of outputs. Reports published by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to date provide information on the number and profile of participants, number of awards granted, and employment outcomes. Overall, feedback on Springboard is very positive: 40% of the 2012/13 graduates were in employment/self-employment within 6 weeks of graduating – rising to 52% within 6 months of graduation.

Evaluations have been carried out by the HEA, with support from the UCD Geary Institute and Eustace Patterson Ltd. The evaluation reports are available on the Springboard website at www.springboardcourses.ie.

A call for proposals for courses to be run under Springboard 2015 published to higher education providers and on the HEA website at www.hea.ieon 28 January. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 11 March 2015. Details of courses subsequently selected for funding and the eligibility criteria for participation will be available on the dedicated information and applications website www.springboardcourses.iefrom May 2015