Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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207. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the last strategy for third level education here was promulgated by the Government. [35900/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, a number of months ago I launched the Action Plan for Education 2016 – 2019 with the stated ambition to provide the best Education and Training system in Europe over the next decade and incorporates actions at all levels of the system:

The action plan draws together actions from a range of policy documents and is based on the key principles of access, excellence, transparency and innovation. Our aim is to provide an education and training system that equips learners with the knowledge and skills that they need to achieve their potential, and to participate fully in society and the economy through the delivery of high quality education and training experiences, which will make the best use of resources.

In relation to Higher Education, we now have a very comprehensive policy framework in place to steer the higher education system in the coming years. The strategies for higher education, skills development, innovation, supporting access to higher education, international education and the future funding of the sector all have people, talent and growth at their core. Links to each of these strategies are provided as follows:

1. The National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030, published in 2011, sets out the overall objectives for the system and priorities around teaching and learning, research, engagement, access and quality:

As part of the implementation of the National Strategy, in May 2013, the then Minister for Education and Skills announced a new performance framework would be put in place to increase the transparency and accountability of institutions for delivery of agreed performance outcomes. Integral to this would be a process of strategic dialogue between the HEA and each higher education institution (HEIs).

The first System Performance Framework, stating national priorities and key objectives of Government for higher education for the period 2014 – 2016 was published by the then Minister in September 2013, following consultation with relevant Government Departments and agencies. A copy of the current Framework is available at the following link:

2. The National Skills Strategy was launched earlier this year and while encompassing the whole of the education and training system is highly relevant to the higher education system and sets out a number of relevant priorities for the next ten years including developing relevant skills across the population, employer participation in the development of skills and an increased focus on lifelong learning:

3. The Higher Education sector is key to the implementation of Innovation 2020 the new strategy for Research and Development and in particular for developing the people – the researchers required to deliver on our national ambitions. A researcher's entire higher education experience contributes to their future success as a researcher and underpins Ireland’s research system:

4. Supporting equity of access to higher education is an important national objective for both economic and societal reasons and my Department has had a strong focus on this for a long number of years and last December saw the launch of the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-19:

5. The Cassells report on Future Funding for Higher Education, which was published in July 2016, is also an important development. The Report clearly outlines the funding challenges and offers a number of approaches and recommendations for consideration. The report is now with the Joint Committee on Education and Skills. I look forward to working with the committee to work out a viable, long-term funding model that we can all support. We will require political and societal consensus to enable us to move forward with a realistic and achievable strategy for funding the system into the future:

6. Irish Educated - Globally Connected is the most recent strategy to be published and relates to international education. This strategy was launched in October 2016 and represents a key element of Ireland’s growth strategy for the next five years: