Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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109. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his plans to increase the rate of students in areas of high deprivation going onto third-level education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26983/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department recently published its Statement of Strategy 2021-2023. The Inclusion goal is one of the six strategic goals in the strategy for the coming period. In this regard, one of my priorities is to support learning for all in the tertiary education system and to develop and grow its supports for vulnerable learners, learners with disabilities, under-represented groups and the most marginalised.

The main support available to students is the Student Grant Scheme managed by SUSI. The scheme provides maintenance and fee grant support for qualifying students who meet the criteria regarding means, nationality, residency and progression. In 2020/21 over 101,000 students applied for grant support with almost 80,000 students assessed as eligible for support. It is anticipated that a similar number will apply in 2021/22. A review of the SUSI scheme is currently underway. It is anticipated that this review will be published later this year and will inform future policy decisions regarding grant supports.

The National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2021 (NAP) is another key policy lever for promoting access to higher education. The vision of the NAP is to ensure that the student body entering, participating in and completing higher education at all levels reflects the diversity and social mix of Ireland’s population. The plan set out goals and actions with the aim of supporting increased access and participation in higher education by six main target groups, include entrants from socio-economic groups that have low participation in higher education.

One of the five priority goals for the current NAP is “to gather accurate data and evidence on access and participation and to base policy on what that data tells us”. In this regard we have developed and published “A Data Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education” and recently commenced publishing Deprivation Index Score (DIS) data on higher education institutions (HEIs).

The availability of new Deprivation Index Score (DIS) data which identifies those areas with low higher education participation rates will be of significant benefit to HEIs in helping them to implement more targeted approaches in their access strategies. The data is also important in informing priorities for the development of the next NAP which will cover the 2022-2026 period. A public consultation process is currently underway for the new NAP and will remain open for submissions until June 18th. It is anticipated that the next NAP will be published by the end of 2021.

In terms of direct supports for vulnerable students, the Government has approved a number of additional supports for students in the last year. These include: a €10m assess support package for higher education; improved postgraduate supports and funding for SUSI grants worth circa €26m; up to €50m in supports to provide funding of €250 to qualifying tertiary students; an additional €1.5m for the 1916 Bursary scheme which is targeted a disadvantaged students; a €15m laptop scheme for further and higher education students; an €8m mitigating educational disadvantage fund for the further education and training sector; and an additional €3m to support mental health and wellbeing.

Inclusion will remain a strategic priority for my department. The review of the SUSI grant scheme and the development of a new National Access Plan will create an impetus and focus for increasing participation amongst students in areas of high deprivation.