David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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225. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the institutes of technology that have expressed an interest, or are involved, in a process to become technological universities; the stage each process is at; the amount that has been spent by each institute individually or collectively on the process to date; the amount of additional funding that has been available to support the processes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20519/16]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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226. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a programme for Government commitment to change the requirement that institutes of technology must merge in order to apply to become a technological university will be implemented; if the programme for Government commitment will be implemented by way of an amendment to the Technological Universities Bill; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20520/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 225 and 226 together.

As the Deputy will be aware, the new Programme for Government outlines that this new Government will continue to support the creation of Technological Universities.

This is in line with the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 which provides a framework for the development of the higher education sector to 2030. With regard to the institute of technology sector, the Strategy recommended significant reforms to position the sector to meet national strategic objectives. In particular, the Strategy recommended consolidation within the sector and a pathway of evolution for those consolidated institutes of technology, to allow them to demonstrate significant progress against robust performance criteria and to apply to become technological universities.

Consortiums who have applied:

As part of the implementation of the Strategy, the Higher Education Authority in 2012 published a four-stage process and criteria for applicant groups of institutes of technology wishing to apply to become technological universities.

The designation process consists of four stages as follows –

- an expression of interest,

- the preparation of a plan to meet the criteria,

- an evaluation of the plan, and

- an application for designation.

There are currently four consortia engaged with the process to become designated as TUs. These are TU4Dublin (Dublin Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Tallaght, Institute of Technology Blanchardstown), Technological University for the South-East (TUSE – consisting of Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow), Munster Technological University (MTU – consisting of Cork Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Tralee) and the Connacht Ulster Alliance (CUA – consisting of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology Sligo and Letterkenny Institute of Technology).

Status of Consortia:

At the end of 2014, two consortia successfully passed stage 3 of the four-stage process. These are the TU4Dublin consortium and the Munster Technological University consortium.

In early 2015 the Connacht-Ulster Alliance also expressed an interest in merging and in applying to become a technological university. This application was approved to proceed to the next stage. In line with the process for designation as a Technological University, Stage 2 of this process involves the preparation of a plan by the Connacht-Ulster Alliance, to meet the criteria for designation as a Technological University.

With regard to the Technological University for the South-East, consisting of Institute of Technology, Carlow (ITC) and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), following the publication of the Kelly report, a preliminary facilitation process which was underway since September 2015, has recently been completed and a Report of the process was received by my Department on 13 May 2016. There was strong engagement in the process by both parties. This facilitation process has been an important building block in terms of building trust between the parties and in developing a strong working relationship between the Presidents and Chairs of both institutions. As part of this process, the Presidents of the two institutions, have jointly developed an initial work-plan to support the development of a joint TU proposal.

Future Funding for landscape re-configuration in the Higher Education sector:

It is recognised that these changes to the landscape of Irish higher education carry some up-front additional costs and the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has provided for a fund to support HEIs with these costs. In terms of additional financial support, having regard to the benefits that will arise for the institutions, students and the higher education system more generally, the HEA has provided funding in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to provide some support to institutions involved in the TU process, the details of which are set out for each consortium below.

In relation to 2016, the HEA have ring-fenced a level of funding to support costs arising from the continuation of landscape reform projects as part of the implementation of the National Strategy for Higher Education. In line with this, the HEA issued a call for submissions for funding support to higher education institutions involved in restructuring projects.

Funding Allocations:

Arising from the submissions received and subsequent detailed presentations made to the HEA, all four consortiums that are involved in merger processes with the ultimate aim of becoming Technological Universities have been allocated additional funding as outlined below. Part of this funding arises from a specific €2 million allocated in Budget 2016 to support Technological University projects. Notification of this additional funding was recently provided to the consortiums involved. The funding for 2016 has been allocated as follows:

TUSE: €1.445Million

TU4Dublin: €1.3Million

MTU: €1.2Million

CUA: €0.757Million

Total: €4.702Million

Costs:

Summary of Overall Costs to date:

Costs incurred to End 2015:

TU4Dublin €3,113,000

MTU €1,053,026

TUSE €495,655

CUA €400,000

Total €5,061,681

Future projections for the overall costs of all of the projects will only be fully determined as part of the Stage 2 and Stage 4 Application processes.

Position of Technological Universities Bill:

The first Government Legislative Programme of this new Partnership Government was published on 8 June 2016, and the Technological Universities Bill has been restored to the Dáil Order Paper at Committee Stage.

I recognise that there were a significant number of matters raised in respect of the Bill at both Committee and Report Stage. It is my intention to now consult with all of the relevant stakeholders in relation to both the matters raised during the legislative process and the commitments contained in the Programme for Government.

Following the finalisation of this consultation process I will then advance the legislation having determined a position in relation to any matters raised as part of this consultation process.