Written answers
Wednesday, 13 January 2021
Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Covid-19 Pandemic Supports
Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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660. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of individual laptops purchased as part of the laptop scheme for third level students announced in August 2020; the total cost of purchasing those laptops; the form of needs assessment carried out prior to purchase; if colleges or universities were consulted as part of the needs assessment; the specific colleges or universities; the number of laptops issued to each third level institution; and the number of laptops issued to students per third level institution in tabular form. [1072/21]
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As part of a package of COVID-19 supports for the higher and further education sectors, my Department allocated a total of €15 million to higher and further education providers for a once-off COVID-19 grant to support disadvantaged students in accessing ICT devices.
This initiative addresses concerns regarding the digital divide in the context of the shift to online and blended models of learning and the importance of supporting disadvantaged students to adapt to these new models.
Devices procured using the grant have been, and are still being, distributed by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Education and Training Boards (ETBs) to disadvantaged students via lending schemes. The attached table shows the number of laptops procured by providers and the number distributed to students as at mid-December 2020, which is the most recent data compiled by the Department. It is important to note that applications are still open and distribution by many providers is still continuing - including to learners commencing courses this month and later this year. As this is a once-off grant, institutions have been given the flexibility to hold some of the devices for students commencing their studies in the 2021/22 academic year.
The decision to support access to laptops for disadvantaged students was made in response to issues identified by the Tertiary Education Steering Group and the associated Connectivity Sub-group. These structures were established in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic to coordinate responses across the sector, and included participation from the representative bodies in the higher and further education sector, including the IUA representing the university sector, THEA representing the technological sector, TU Dublin, ETBI and the Union of Students of Ireland (USI).
The once-off grant for devices was approved by Government on 22 July as part of a package of COVID-19 measures for the sector. Funding was allocated among HEIs and ETBs based on enrolment figures. In the higher education sector, a weighting was also applied based on the number of disadvantaged students in the institution. The criteria and application process for the allocation of laptops to students were determined by each individual institution, within the overall terms and conditions of the grant.
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