Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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295. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress that has been made to date regarding the integration of Carlow College, St. Patrick's into the Higher Education Authority; the engagement the Department has had on the issue with stakeholders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25386/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Carlow College, St. Patrick's (Carlow College) is a privately run education institution operating outside the publicly funded higher education system.

The Higher Education Authority Act of 2022 was signed by the President on 12 October, 2022 and the majority of the sections of the Act were commenced on 10th November, via Statutory Instrument No. 554 of 2022.

The Higher Education Authority Act 2022 provides for the designation of institutions of higher education, where the purpose and intent of this designation system is to protect the reputation and integrity of the higher education sector by bringing all reputable, high quality higher education providers under the oversight of the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

The designation provisions in the Act firstly sets out the automatic designation of institutions that are presently established or recognised under legislation and which were designated under the Higher Education Authority Act 1971. Therefore those automatically designated are the universities, technological universities, institutes of technology, the National College of Art and Design and the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.

The legislation also provides for an application process to the HEA by not-for-profit or private higher education providers for designation by order by the Minister.

These sections in the Act have not yet been commenced, as the legislation requires this application process to have regulations in place detailing the conditions to be complied with by a higher education provider before a designation order can be made.

My officials have commenced work on the development of these regulations. The completion of the designation regulations and the establishment of a process for designation by order will take further consideration including consultation with the Higher Education Authority.

Once the regulations are prescribed and the process is fully developed, the relevant provisions of the HEA Act will be commenced. It will then be open to Carlow College to apply for designation by order under the legislation.

All designated institutions of higher education will be required to comply with the governance and other provisions included in the Higher Education Authority Act 2022. These provisions include the development and implementation of a Strategic Development Plan and an Equality Statement; keeping of accounts; review and reporting provisions; student engagement provisions; equity of access, participation and promotion of success plan; lifelong and flexible learning; data collection and sharing; and compliance with conditions of funding if funding is provided.

It is important to note that designation as a designated institution of higher education does not guarantee that an institution will receive exchequer funding.

Institutions, including Carlow College, will be informed once the designation by order process is open for applications.

As a privately run education institution outside the publicly funded higher education system the College is not eligible to avail of core recurrent funding via the HEA.

Under the Free Fees Initiative, the Department pays a grant in lieu of tuition fees to Carlow College in respect of eligible students on the approved courses. The Deputy may also wish to know that, in late 2022, my Department approved a business case for an increase in the level of funding paid to Carlow College under the Free Fees Initiative for the 2022/23 academic year and subsequent years.

A decision to seek the integration of Carlow College into an autonomous higher education institution in the publicly funded higher education system is in the first instance a matter for the respective governing authorities of Carlow College and any potential partner higher education institution.