Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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412. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question No. 697 of 1 December 2020, if students who had to return to college in order to carry out placements (details supplied) which were cancelled due to Covid-19 and have not had to pay fees for 2020 are included in the small number of cases in which alternative arrangements will be made for the payment of the moneys to students given the disruption caused to them in having to return to college due to Covid-19. [43040/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In recognition of the challenges facing full time third level students the Government has approved once off funding of €50m to provide additional financial assistance in this academic year.

The funding was provided in Budget 2021, in recognition of the exceptional situation they have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial assistance will be provided to all EU full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students attending publicly funded Higher Education Institutions.

The scheme will ensure students;

- Who avail of the SUSI grant, including students abroad, will receive €250 top-up in their grant;

- Students who do not avail of the grant but attend publicly funded Higher Education Institutions in the state can reduce by €250 any outstanding student contribution fee payments or receive a €250 credit note for their institution;

- In a small number of cases, alternative arrangements will be made for the payment of the monies to students at the discretion of institutions.

The latter two options are designed to ensure students who are not in receipt of SUSI benefit from the measure. It is also the intention that these address circumstances where students are in final year but may not be on campus, as in the case of final year students on placement.

Irish/EU/EEA students partaking in courses in other countries who are in receipt of SUSI support are eligible for the payment if they are attending approved SUSI courses in approved higher education institutions within the EU. However other EU fulltime students outside of the SUSI system must be registered in a publicly funded higher education provider in the State to avail of this allocation.

In terms of other Irish nationals studying abroad, the provision of supports to Irish citizens based on nationality alone with the exclusion of other EU nationals would be contrary to EU law. It is therefore not possible to provide supports based on Irish citizenship alone. Instead the measure applies to all of these qualifying for SUSI grants, wherever they are studying and those of EU nationality at publicly funded higher education institutions in the State. Additionally a key administrative feature of the fund is that it is being implemented with the assistance of publicly funded institutions in the State under the remit of my Department.

SUSI and institutions will be communicating directly with students on arrangements in the coming weeks.

Additionally Budget 2021 provides further funding to enhance SUSI grant supports for post-grads and increase support for the PATH access initiative.

This builds on the additional supports announced in July including a doubling of the Student Assistance Fund, and a €15 million technology fund for devices for students in further and higher education.

Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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413. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the supports in place for postgraduate students given Covid-19 regulations around face-to-face learning, and in particular if institutions will consider a refund of fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43045/20]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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At the outset it is important to note that postgraduate study in the higher education system in Ireland takes place across a very wide and diverse set of disciplines and extends from taught masters programmes to advanced and specialised post-graduate research. While the introduction of strict public health restrictions impacted widely on postgraduate students, the shift to online learning necessitated by Covid impacted predominantly on taught postgraduate programmes.

While Ireland was on Level 5 of the Plan for Living with COVID all further and higher education institutions delivered the majority of their classes online with only essential activities held on site. While I appreciate that this was disappointing for students who had hoped to have as much time on campus as possible, these measures were necessary to support halting the spread of the Coronavirus.

As we have now moved to Level 3 of the Plan for Living with COVID, there is a shared ambition between my Department and the sector to increase face to face learning on a phased and incremental basis for priority groups. While large-scale learning, such as lectures will remain online for the rest of the year, it is intended that priority groups identified by institutions will be invited in for more on campus activities.

It is also hoped that it will be possible to restart social activities such as sports, clubs and societies to allow students to experience these elements of college life again.

It is important to be realistic and to continue to respond to public health advice. The scope for onsite activities will continue to be shaped by the prevailing public health circumstances.

Higher education institutions are autonomous institutions as provided for in legislation. The determination, as to the total level of postgraduate fees to be charged, is a matter for each institution in accordance with its own particular operational conditions and circumstances in ensuring quality education provision. The actual cost of delivering such programmes has not reduced as a consequence of the pandemic indeed institutions have had a range of additional costs in continuing to deliver programmes despite the unique circumstances of the pandemic.

I am of course very conscious of the immediate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our students. In recognition of the challenges facing full time third level students the Government has approved once off funding of €50m to provide additional financial assistance in this academic year.

The funding, which was provided in Budget 2021, in recognition of the significant upheaval they have experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic will offer €250 in financial assistance to all EU full-time undergraduate and postgraduate students attending publicly funded Higher Education Institutions.

This builds on the previously enhanced student supports provided in response to COVID-19, including the doubling of the Student Assistance Fund and the provision of €15m in funding for laptops and devices.