Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department allocates recurrent funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to the HEA designated higher education institutions. The HEA allocates this funding to the institutions and the internal disbursement of funding is then a matter for the individual institution. In addition to this funding, the HEA also provides a separate subsidy to institutions delivering undergraduate medicine courses for the cost of training an additional EU student intake of approximately 145 students per year, arising from the implementation of the Fottrell Report on undergraduate medical education and training to increase EU student intake.

The average EU tuition fee rate for an undergraduate medical course is €8,850. Where a student meets the eligibility criteria of the Free Fees Initiative, the State covers the majority of this cost. Student who qualify for free fees funding are liable to pay the Student Contribution, the cost of which for the current academic year is €2,750. The Contribution is paid on behalf of those students who qualify under my Department's Student Grant Scheme. Some 50% of students who qualify for free fees funding have the contribution paid on their behalf by the State.

In addition, students who qualify for entry to the Graduate Entry Medicine (GEM) programme, are liable for the cost of their tuition fees as they already hold an undergraduate qualification. These fees are partly subsidised by the Irish State through the HEA. The cost of GEM programmes for the current academic year range from €14,580 to €16,080, and is payable by students, with the assistance of the HEA subsidy of €9,500 per student.

It should also be noted that the Department of Health and/or the HSE meets the cost of the provision of clinical training placements and internships in the health sector.