Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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426. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the manner in which funding is allocated to level nine courses through the recurrent grant allocation model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44983/22]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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427. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the average State-funding provided per level nine student in public higher education institutions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44984/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 426 and 427 together.

The provision of Higher Education funding on an annual basis is part of overall expenditure management and budgetary policy for Government. It is worth noting that Government investment in Higher Education is not specifically allocated against a per student metric and state investment in the sector is not limited to the recurrent grant funding of institutions.

Government provides financial support to the higher education sector through a number of streams including direct recurrent grants, and indirectly through a number of specific parameters including free fees, policy initiatives, competitive programme calls, Springboard+, Human Capital Initiative and SUSI fee supports. In addition institutions can receive research funding from national and international research activities.

In terms of recurrent grant funding my Department allocates funding to the Higher Education Authority (HEA) for direct disbursement to HEA designated higher education institutions (HEIs). The funding allocations to the HEIs, through the HEA’s Recurrent Grant Allocation Model (RGAM), are based on a funding formula that is informed by eligible student numbers from the previous academic year. Eligible Level 9 students are included in the funding model. The annual core grant is allocated by the HEA to the higher education institutions as a block grant as a contribution towards teaching, research and supporting activities.

Institutions are advised in their annual grant letter that the internal allocation of funds between teaching, research and supporting activities are a matter for each institution. Thus, there is full institutional autonomy to deploy this block grant in the most effective manner to achieve it mission across teaching, research and supporting activities. In this regard it is not possible to attribute a set amount as provided per level nine student or to level nine courses in public higher education institutions.

In terms of how the RGAM utilises student numbers the HEA advise that eligible student numbers are converted to full-time equivalents (FTEs) and weighted for the relative costs pertaining to different disciplines.

The three main subject price groups by which students are weighted are: Non-lab (weighting of 1), Fieldwork (1.3) and Lab (1.7) which relate to the areas of study. Under the RGAM, postgraduate Level 9 students (taught & research) receive additional weightings. An amount of funding is allocated on the basis of research and access measures and Level 9 students are also included in the metrics which inform these allocations.

The overall funding available is divided by the total number of weighted FTE student numbers and the resulting amount per FTE is called “standard resource”. The standard resource is then multiplied by the number of weighted FTEs in each University and technological institution. A moderator is applied as a part of the model, to protect institutions from sudden significant fluctuations in recurrent funding.

As referenced above the core grant is allocated as a single “block” grant to HEIs for teaching, research and supporting activities. The internal allocation of funds between teaching, research and supporting activities is a matter for each institution.