Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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295. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he can explain the ongoing delay in the rollout of professorships in the technological universities; if he will provide a timeline on when this will be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41921/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Technological Universities have been established to create a step-change in the delivery of higher-level skills, new knowledge creation, venture start-ups and collaborative innovation support for enterprise; and hence to meaningfully expand the higher education sector’s contribution to regional development.

To support the post-establishment development of TUs, the Higher Education Authority and my Department commissioned the OECD to conduct a review of academic career paths, contracts, and organisation design in TUs. I brought this report to Cabinet in December 2022, and it was subsequently published.

The report highlights a range of complex interconnected issues for consideration. These include the academic year basis of contracts, workload defined in terms of instructional hours without systemised recognition of research or engagement, instructional models out of step with international peers, the absence of professorial ranks, and the balance between academic staff and professional, management and support staff.

I am committed to introducing professorship grades into Technological Universities, however it is important that this is done in a considered way, working through the complex range of interconnected issues. Officials in my Department are working closely with representatives of the technological universities and other stakeholders in progressing these issues.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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296. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when the executive board structure for each of the technological universities will be rolled out; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41922/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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An appropriate senior management team structure is a critical enabler to support Technological Universities deliver on their legislatively prescribed mandate.

The Higher Education Authority and my Department commissioned the OECD to conduct a review of academic career paths, contracts, and organisation design in TUs. I brought this report to Cabinet in December 2022, and it was subsequently published. The report makes recommendations as to the broad parameters within which TU senior management team structures should fit, while also recognising the need to facilitate institutional-level variations to reflect specific regional requirements of individual institutions.

Following their establishment, I understand that each TU has undertaken, or is in the advanced stages of undertaking, an organisational design exercise to determine its optimum senior management team structure.

Section 14(1) of the Technological Universities Act 2018 provides for TUs to appoint staff with the consent of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform.

Sanction was granted in July 2021 for senior executive posts within TU Dublin.

A business case in relation to the MTU senior management team, endorsed by my Department, has been under consideration by the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery, and Reform since December 2022. My officials have been engaging closely with colleagues in that Department to agree a shared position, having regard to the needs of the institution and sector and within the context of overall public sector resourcing policy.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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297. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if, following on from his comments made on 21 September 2023, he can outline the criteria which technological universities must satisfy in order to be deemed off balance sheet for the purposes of borrowing for student accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41923/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In November 2022, I received Government approval of €1 million to support our Technological Universities (TUs) in the development of a feasibility study to ascertain student accommodation needs on a local, regional and national level. This study will include data analysis and engagement with local authorities and other key stakeholders to determine the level and potential sources of student accommodation together with the corresponding supply and demand in each region.

Department officials and I have had continuous engagement with the sector in relation to the feasibility study. On the 22nd of June I announced the commencement of phase one of this study as part of the Governments’ commitment to support TUs in the development of their student accommodation strategies. My Department and I recognise that given the varying regional locations, a range of accommodation options will need to be considered including purpose built student accommodation, the promotion of digs accommodation and the identification and reuse of vacant premises.

Enabling appropriate access to finance is one of the significant requirements for the delivery by higher education institutions (HEIs) of student accommodation. The Department is exploring the development of a specific TU borrowing framework with Department of Finance and the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform alongside a range of mechanisms for the delivery of accommodation for students. The options arising from the TU feasibility study will inform this ongoing engagement. It is anticipated that any borrowing framework would in the first instance prioritise the provision of student accommodation in line with commitments in the Government's Housing for All plan.

In December 2021 the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage confirmed that his Department had reviewed the Housing Finance Agency Act 1981 (as amended) and was satisfied that the legislation in place was robust enough to allow the Housing Finance Agency (HFA) to also lend, in addition to universities designated under the Universities Act 1997, to TUs, Institutes of Technology and other institutions encompassed by the definition of “Institutes of Higher Education” in the Higher Education Authority Act 1971, where such borrowing is in respect of the provision of housing accommodation for students.

This provision was further strengthened under Section 130 of the Higher Education Authority Bill (as amended) by copper-fastening and broadening the type of institution to which the HFA can lend to with relevant consents, including other education institutions not designated under the remit of the HEA but who are in receipt of core funding through the public system.

Institutions, other than traditional universities, would firstly require consent to borrow following consultation with the Higher Education Authority. This will necessitate the establishment of an appropriate framework setting out the criteria, financial and non-financial, including governance, oversight and reporting to define the operational process through which such consent would be sought and obtained. Having passed those primary screening tests the prospective borrowing entity would then be required to pass the relevant tests, procedures and requirements of the HFA before accessing borrowing funds.

The impacts, risks and responsibilities arising from such borrowing are key considerations in this context. In addition to accessing borrowing on commercially viable and appropriate terms such as would not adversely impact the financial position of TUs themselves or the wider public finances, as stated requisite oversight, risk evaluation, project management and attendant governance and regulatory processes would also need to be established. I am confident that there will, as appropriate, be robust and adequate systems in place to ensure any proposed borrowing is rigorously examined to protect both Exchequer funding and HEIs themselves.

The decision on balance sheet classification of Technological Universities (TUs) is determined by Eurostat following review by the Central Statistics Office. This involves a detailed assessment of the relationship between the sector and government including the level of control of the governance and decision-making arrangements. In the case of the TUs, the principal piece of legislation is the Technological Universities Act 2018. The Technological University Sector (and formally the IOT sector) is classified as on Government balance sheet currently.