Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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450. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the target number for the Springboard+ course in 2021-2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32963/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Springboard+ 2021 was launched on 14th June 2021, providing 10,158 places on 294 courses. As a result of multi-annual funding of graduate conversion courses, this leads to a combined total of 13,128 places in 399 courses available in the 2021/22 academic year under Springboard+ 2021 and HCI Pillar 1.

Springboard+ 2021 courses are at Level 6 (Certificate) to Level 9 (Masters) on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) and are delivered by public and private higher education providers around the country. All courses provide job-readiness training and most offer the opportunity for work placement, project-based learning or industry site visits where appropriate. All courses approved for funding under Springboard+ 2021 were selected by an independent panel with experts from industry and education following a competitive tendering process.  In particular, courses in areas of new and emerging technologies and areas which have come to the fore as result of Covid-19 were recommended for funding.

The majority of courses approved under Springboard+ 2021 and HCI Pillar 1 will start later in 2021 and in early 2022. Full details on Springboard+ and HCI courses, the eligibility criteria and how to apply can be found on the website: www.springboardcourses.ie.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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451. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the estimated cost of providing a dedicated IT support staff and dedicated educational technology staff member to each of the further education and training colleges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32964/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The information requested by the Deputy is currently being compiled. I will arrange for an early response to issue directly to the Deputy.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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452. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number and percentage of students accepted onto a higher education course on the basis of a further education qualification in each year since 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32965/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2021 set a participation target of 10% for students who are new entrants to higher education and their basis for admission is a further education and training qualification for 2019.  The 2018 Progress Review of the NAP shows that participation increased from 6.6% at the commencement of the NAP to 7.3% in 2017/2018.  The source of the data is the CAO.

In 2018/19, an entry basis tag was introduced in the Student Record System which provides the number of further education qualification holders in higher education identified by the HEIs themselves as entering their course based on a further education qualification for 1^styear full-time undergraduate new entrants.

This data shows that for 2018/2019, the number of Further Education Award or equivalent students is 2,355 and for 2019/2020 it is 2,579.  This equates to 5.6% and 6.0% respectively for all full-time undergraduate 1^sttime new entrants to higher education whose basis of admission is a further education qualification.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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453. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if an annual forum to report progress to stakeholders on progress made on access as committed to under the national access plan has been established; if he will continue this practice; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32983/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The third National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education (2015 – 2019) was launched in December 2015. A progress review published in 2018 extended the lifetime of the current Plan to 2021.

A commitment of this current National Access Plan (NAP) was to hold annual forums to report progress to stakeholders on progress made under NAP and to inform future prioritisation of actions for the next phase of implementation.  The 2021 Forum was held on 23rd April and was a key consultative event for the next National Access Plan which will run from 2022-2026.  It was the fifth annual forum.

The continued need for these annual access forum will considered in the development of the next National Access Plan, which is currently on-going.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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454. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage participation of each non-manual worker group in higher education each year since 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32984/21]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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455. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage participation of each semi, unskilled manual worker group in higher education each year since 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32985/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 454 and 455 together.

Up until recently, the HEA collected data on the socioeconomic background of students through the Equal Access Survey, which is an annual voluntary set of questions asked of all first-year undergraduate new entrant students to HEA funded higher education institutions.

Since 2017/18, the use of Deprivation Index Scores (DIS) has replaced the survey data as a socioeconomic measure. The National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2021 set participation targets of 30% for the non-manual worker group and 35% for semi/unskilled manual worker group by 2019 and, following a publication of a Progress Review of the NAP in 2018, targets of 32% and 40% respectively were set for these groups for 2021. However, due to the need for census data and the change in data collection, participation rates are only available for 2016/17 which show that 27% of the non-manual worker group, and 36% of the semi/unskilled manual worker group, participated in higher education.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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456. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage participation of full-time first-time mature students in higher education each year since 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32986/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The table below provides a summary of full-time mature new entrants in higher education (as a percentage of all new entrants) since 2015/2016.

The National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2021 (NAP) was launched in December 2015, and aims 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. First time Mature Students are specifically identified as a target group within the National Access Plan. There are two separate targets contained in the Plan, one for full-time mature entrants, and one for the combined total of full and part-time/flexible entrants as a percentage of all new entrants. For 2019, a participation target of 16% was set for the full-time mature entrants group and 24% for the full-time and part-time/flexible combined mature entrants group.

The 2018 Progress Review noted rates of participation by mature students had declined since the commencement of the NAP and recommended that research into participation by mature students be commissioned to examine the key influencing factors, including challenges and barriers.  A firm of consultants were appointed by the HEA in 2020 to carry out the review and the final report was published on the 14^thJune 2021.  The finalisation of the report is timely as it coincides with the consultation process on the next National Access Plan (2022-2026). Its findings and recommendations will input into the development of the next Plan and provide an evidence base for more effective targeting and tailoring of actions to support mature students.

Mature new entrants as a % of all new entrants

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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457. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage participation of persons with disabilities in higher education in each year since 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32987/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2021 (NAP) was launched in December 2015, and aims 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.  Students with disabilities are specifically identified as a target group within the NAP. A participation target of 8% was set for students with disabilities in higher education for 2019 and, following a publication of a Progress Review of the NAP in 2018, which showed this target had been exceeded, a new target of 12% was set for 2021. Considerable progress toward realising the targets of the National Access Plan has been achieved amongst the students with disabilities target group with the 2021 target already exceeded in 2019/20 academic year.

The proportion of students in higher education with a disability comes from the Equal Access Survey, which is an annual voluntary set of questions asked of all first-year undergraduate new entrant students to HEA funded higher education institutions.  The data shows that in 2015/16, 8.6% of students with disabilities participated in higher education (as a % of all new entrants); in 2016/17, 10.3% participated, and in 2017/18, 10.5% participated. Due to GDPR issues, data on students with disabilities is not available for the 2018/19 academic year. In 2019/2020, 12.3% of students were identified as having a disability (as a % of all new entrants).

The development of the next National Access Plan 2022 – 2026 is currently underway.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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458. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the percentage of students studying on a part-time, flexible basis in higher education in each year since 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32988/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The HEA collect data on enrolments for undergraduate and postgraduate which includes remote learners. The table attached gives the percentage of undergraduate and postgraduate students in each of the years requested.  The total proportion of students studying on a part-time or flexible basis has increased from 19.2% in 2014/15 to 23% in 2019/20.The data given for the 2019/20 year is the latest available.

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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459. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of members of the Traveller community participating in higher education in each year since 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32989/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The number of Traveller students in higher education comes from the Equal Access Survey which is an annual voluntary set of questions asked of all first-year undergraduate new entrant students to HEA funded higher education institutions.  Gathering accurate data on Irish Traveller participation is difficult and is influenced by varying response rates to the survey.

In 2020, the HEA carried out a review on the number of Irish Travellers participating in Higher Education. This review involved the analysis of all enrolments from the Student Record System and linking these back to the Equal Access Survey records for each cohort of new entrants. The findings of the review show that in

- 2015/2016, 100 Travellers participated in higher education of which 30 were new entrants;

- 2016/2017, 103 Travellers participated in higher education of which 32 were new entrants;

- 2017/2018, 118 Travellers participated in higher education of which 50 were new entrants.

- Due to GDPR issues, Traveller data is not available for the 2018/2019 academic year;

- Using a similar methodology to the review, in 2019/2020, 110 students were identified as Travellers, of which 48 were identified as new entrants. It is important to note that due to missing data in 2018/19, figures for 2019/20 onwards may underestimate the number of Traveller students in the system over the next few years.

Irish Travellers are a target group of the National Access Plan 2015 – 2021.  It is important that all efforts are made to ensure we have accurate and up-to-date record of the number of Traveller students in higher education as we commence the development of the next National Access Plan 2022 – 2026.