Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

PhD students who are awardees on Irish Research Council awards will each receive the stipend increase of €3,000 bringing the stipend amount to €22,000 per annum, effective from 1^stJanuary 2024. Awardees on the Enterprise Partnership Postgraduate Scheme and the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme will receive the same increase.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has a statutory responsibility for the effective governance and regulation of the higher education system. In support of its mandate, the HEA exercises functions in respect of allocating the moneys provided by the Oireachtas for the core activities of the higher education institutions.

It allocates over one billion euro in state funds annually to the institutions in support of their spectrum of core activities which range from teaching and learning, to research and external engagement.

This funding is allocated as a block grant from the HEA to each institution. It is the subject of the Funding the Future initiative for which I secured an additional €60m in Budget 2024, building on the increase that I secured in Budget 2023.

The HEA does not operate PhD programmes directly. Institutional scholarship supports received by PhD students from their higher education institution are funded primarily from the block grant. The internal deployment of the annual block grant allocation across the above spectrum of activities is at the discretion of each autonomous higher education institution.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

In 2024, all of the PhD students who currently receive a stipend under Programmes funded by the Irish Research Council (IRC) and Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) will receive the stipend increase of €3,000 per annum, bringing the stipend amount to €22,000 per annum. The provision and level of stipend provided by PhD funders outside my Department is at the discretion of each funder.

Approximately 960 students funded through the IRC and 1,870 students funded by SFI (i.e. fully funded PhD students on active SFI awards) benefited from the increase in the stipend in 2023.

The IRC and SFI forecasts that a similar number of students will benefit from the increased stipends in 2024.

IRC fund PhD students under a number of Programmes, listed below:

• Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarships
• Enterprise Partnership Postgraduate
• Employment Based Postgraduate Scholarships
• SFI/IRC Pathway Awards
• Laureate Awards
• CHIST-ERA Awards