Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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548. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the financial supports and-or increased funding that has been made available to the further and higher education sectors to deal with the knock-on impact of Covid-19; the increased places in third level to help prospective students excluding planned investments that were already in place to improve or expand further and higher education to deal with demographic changes in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23592/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Since the onset of Covid-19 in March, the Department, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and SOLAS have collaborated with key stakeholders from the sector to identify, quantify and develop options to mitigate the financial impacts of Covid 19 on the sector, including costs associated with the safe commencement of the 2020/21 academic year in line with Public Health advice.

In July I announced a funding package of €168 million to support publically funded further and higher education providers and to support students. This package includes €150million in new funding and was developed following the detailed engagement and assessment process with key stakeholders.

Through this package we have identified significant supports for our students:

- additional funding in the amount of €10m is being provided for the student assistance fund

- €15m for the provision of devices and equipment to assist disadvantaged students in accessing education.

- A €3million Increase in focussed Mental Health and wellbeing funding

It is intended that the greater funding package will pave the way in addressing the detrimental financial impact of Covid19 pandemic on, in particular, the financial stability and sustainability of Higher Education providers by:

- providing appropriate financial support to underpin the sector in meeting student and learner requirements by enabling institutions to prepare for a safe return to education in September 2020 through online and some physical attendance on campus in line with public health guidance; and

- ensuring that the sector can continue to perform its essential role in providing quality teaching and learning delivering high-quality research over the 2020/21 academic year consistent with the principles included in the published Roadmap for re-opening agreed with all key stakeholders.

Additionally, I am aware that this pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on younger workers and those in lower paid occupations with lower level of educational qualifications.

Through the Government's July Stimulus package a programme of immediate investment in upskilling, reskilling and refreshing of skills will commence.

This funding for higher and further education and training to address this situation amounts to €100m and will fund over 35,000 additional places in the current year.

In order to help mitigate the impact of the changes to the Leaving Certificate system, I announced the creation of an additional 2,225 places on high-demand courses in Higher Education Institutions. These places have resulted in the highest ever number of applicants receiving a CAO offers, with 53,815 CAO applicants receiving round one offers on Friday 11th September.

A summary of these places by subject area is in the table below: