Introduction
It is a great pleasure to be here to address USI conference this year - the first time I have had the opportunity to do so during my time as Minister for Education and Skills.
We have had some considerable successes over the last 12 months as a result of the cooperation between USI and the Department.
I want to recap on some of those successes during my remarks today.
I'm also keen to allow time for a discussion between us, and so I don't intend to speak for too long.
However, there is a huge agenda of reform underway across the education sector at the moment, and I do want to take the opportunity to outline some of that agenda.
I will also touch on the issue of how we fund the third-level sector - an issue that is as much a priority for me, as it is for all of you.
Creating opportunities
There are three themes which summarise my agenda as Minister for Education and Skills.
Firstly, improving quality and accountability - this covers areas such as implementation of a National Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, reform of Junior Cycle, and the introduction of School Self-Evaluations.
Secondly, supporting inclusion and diversity - this means making sure that school enrolments are fair and transparent, strengthening the voices of parents and learners, and supporting students with special educational needs.
Of most interest to you, will be the third theme - the idea of creating opportunities for Irish adults, or providing all of our people with pathways to work that will sustain them throughout their lives.
This theme covers the entire agenda of change in the higher education and further education and training sectors.
It is not a utilitarian view that seeks to reduce education to a commodity, but it is a recognition that education must prepare our people for work as well as for life.
I firmly believe that all of our people have a right to the dignity afforded by work.
Put simply, if you accept that view, it becomes imperative that our education system prepares people to benefit from opportunities to work.
That is why we have transformed the further education and training sector.
FÁS has been replaced by SOLAS - an organisation that will guide funding and policy for the FET sector in a similar fashion to how the HEA operates in the Higher Ed sector.
33 VECs have been amalgamated to form 16 local Education and Training Boards, who will strengthen locally managed education and enhance the scale of local education and training.
The Higher Education sector is undergoing a similar level of transformation.
Third Level landscape
The third-level sector has made an enormous contribution to the challenges that this country has faced in the last number of years.
Our highly skilled workforce is the key to increasing Ireland’s competitiveness for foreign investment and for the growth of indigenous industries that will lead our country out of recession.
We must continue to raise the profile and international reputation of Ireland’s higher education system; we need to make sure that we provide appropriate, relevant and high quality learning opportunities for all of our citizens in all of our regions.
We need to leverage every advantage now so that we can create jobs in Ireland and keep our high quality graduates here.
In May of last year, I announced significant structural changes to the higher education landscape, in response to the advice on system configuration from the HEA.
Much needed clarity has been brought to bear on the destination towards which we are all headed - developing a top quality system of higher education institutions working together, to achieve the outcomes required for Ireland.
When I first met with all of the Presidents of the IoTs, I reinforced with them the need to consolidate the Technological Sector.
I informed them clearly that I would not go down the Margaret Thatcher route of renaming every Polytechnic as a University.
Allowing institutes of technology to move towards merger and designation as Technological Universities is a very significant development, and I know is one that has been the cause of considerable excitement in the institutes involved.
The creation of regional clusters will allow us to improve efficiency, while also building stronger links between our universities and institutes of technology, and between those institutions and the businesses in their regions.
The two sectors of third-level education in Ireland must collaborate and co-operate.
All institutions will be expected to develop structures in the coming year that will allow regional plans to be developed and agreed by each cluster.
The creation of 6 high quality institutes of education, to replace the 19 existing providers of initial teacher education, is also a major element of the new higher education landscape.
This will provide students with the opportunity to study to become educators at early childhood, primary, post-primary and further and higher education in these institutes, while also allowing us to build up our research base in relation to education.
In addition, the extended four year degree for primary teachers, and two year degree for post-primary teachers will support improved quality in our schools.
A new performance framework
The new System Performance Framework that is being rolled out from this year, is intended to build on the contribution which the third-level sector can make to the development of our country.
It has been designed to bring about a better balance in the level of accountability in the HE system, particularly given that the system is comprised of a series of autonomous institutions.
National priorities of Government and a number of key system objectives have now been clearly expressed for the period to 2016 - these along with a set of system indicators have been published and communicated to the Higher Education Institutions.
These will allow the HEA to assess the performance of the system as a whole in relation to national priorities and report back to me on an annual basis in a system report.
I am expecting the first Annual System Performance Report from the HEA very shortly.
This overall framework will inform the first phase of strategic dialogue as the first set of individual institutional compacts are put in place.
I understand that draft compacts from all HEIs have been received by the HEA and that they are now being finalised.
This will provide a much greater transparency and visibility of the very significant contribution being made to the national recovery effort by the universities.
I believe that the student voice is an essential element of that performance framework – promoting excellence in teaching and learning to underpin a high quality student experience is a key system objective.
When reporting on this dimension of higher education the HEA will have particular regard to the views of students collected in the Irish Survey of Student Engagement (ISSE).
I know that the USI has played an invaluable role in developing and promoting the survey in partnership with the HEA and the higher education institutions and I would like to thank you for that.
We need much greater transparency around what happens within institutions.
The survey will play a key role in opening up the quality of student engagement in their third level education to a wide audience – in particular those running higher education institutions and those, including Government and hard pressed families, who are funding those institutions.
Student Experience and Transition
The student voice within third level is very important to me.
So is monitoring the experience of our students, and supporting students as they transition from one level of education to another.
Our academics are closely engaged with creating and disseminating knowledge, through their research and teaching activity.
There are many excellent examples of good practice in teaching in higher education today and one of the ambitions of the reform programme is to facilitate the systematic spread of successful teaching practices.
The newly established National Forum for the enhancement of Teaching and Learning, will serve as a platform for academic-led improvement of teaching and learning.
But we also need to continue working out how students can report on their own experiences, and play a more significant role in the quality assurance agenda that will see improvements to your experiences.
I know that USI has been working with QQI to develop specialist training for student
representatives to support them in enhancing their quality assurance role within institutions.
To complement that initiative, I have asked the HEA to examine how it might assist USI financially to support and co-ordinate that student input at national level.
This will involve USI, and by extension the affiliated Students’ Unions, receiving funding in return for providing much needed feedback and quality assurance on the performance and delivery of courses.
This will help us to develop an innovative, valuable and frankly, a more democratic contribution to quality assuring our institutions.
The step from school into higher education is one made by ever-increasing numbers of our young people.
A key part of the reforms underway is to support a Better Transition from second-level to higher education.
Agreement has been reached on three key points:
A commitment to address any problematic predictability identified in the Leaving Certificate examination;
A commitment to reduce the number of grading bands used in the Leaving Certificate examination;
A commitment to significantly reduce the very high number of level 8 programmes in the third-level sector, particularly the universities.
There will be an update on the Transition reform in the coming weeks.
Legislation and Governance
Many elements of the reform agenda at third-level must be underpinned by legislation.
I am planning two very significant pieces of legislation in relation to higher education.
The Technological University Bill is currently with the Oireachtas committee for pre-legislative stage.
That legislation will allow for the creation of Technological Universities, and will improve the governance of our Institutes of Technology.
I hope that USI, along with affiliated Students Unions in the IoTs, will have the opportunity to feed into that legislation as it passes through the Oireachtas.
Over the next while, I’ll also be publishing another Bill, which will improve the governance of the entire third-level sector.
Again, I hope that Bill will provide a further opportunity to enshrine the voice of students in the governance of our institutions - I look forward to working with USI when a draft Bill has been prepared.
Cooperation with USI
I’ve mentioned the discussions that are currently underway with USI in relation to involving students more in quality assurance.
Over the last 12 months, that’s only one area where there has been cooperation between the Department and USI - in a few other areas, some really significant progress has been made as a result of us working together.
The centralisation of the processing of student grants was a key demand by USI over the years, and you are aware that the centralisation to SUSI happened in 2012.
The difficulties which arose during our first year were disappointing, and students were rightly annoyed by the unacceptable delays in the processing of student grants.
Really significant improvements were made this year, as a result of cooperation between SUSI, USI and the Department.
The system is not perfect, and we need to continue making further improvements.
However, the improvements over the course of a year provide us with clear evidence of how we can make meaningful improvements to students’ lives by working closely together.
In the run-up to the last Budget, you were also extremely active in seeking to protect the rate of student grant, as well as the income thresholds for qualifying for a grant.
I was pleased to announce on Budget day that these objectives had been achieved.
In relation to access to third-level for migrant students, we’ve also made significant progress this year, in response to a campaign by the Migrant Rights Centre, supported by USI.
From now on, students who are granted Irish citizenship, will be automatically entitled to the same treatment as other Irish people - a very important statement by our nation in welcoming those who come to live and work in our country.
Finally, we’ve had great difficulties with the funding of postgraduate study in Ireland over the last couple of years.
The Department invested considerable effort in seeking to put in place an affordable system of loans for those who wish to pursue postgraduate education, but those efforts were only partially acceptable.
I understand you’ll be making an announcement on this later in the week, which will see a much better option available to students.
That option has been possible as a result of USI working with the Department, to achieve an outcome better than anything either of us could have delivered alone.
Funding
That issue automatically brings me to the funding of our third-level system - an issue I was very keen to address during this Conference.
After the introduction of free fees under Niamh Bhreathnach, successive Fianna Fáil Ministers oversaw a 922% increase in the student registration fee, between 1997 and 2011.
This was effectively a reinstatement of tuition fees, and I don’t believe we should pretend otherwise.
In advance of the last general election, I signed a USI pledge on behalf of the Labour Party - that a Labour Government would not increase the student contribution.
We don’t have a Labour Government, and the commitment was not included in the Programme for Government.
But regardless, as you are aware, I have previously apologised for not being able to keep my pledge.
As you know, the student contribution will rise to €3,000 in September 2015 - I announced the changes over 4 years to provide as much certainty as possible to families about the charges they would face.
I know that these increases have deepened the financial burden on students and their families, and that this has been difficult for many of you.
We have tried to preserve as much equity of access within the system as possible, with 47% of all undergraduate students exempt from this student contribution last year.
I know that this figure is often brushed aside during the debate, but I do believe that it is a very, very important investment in ensuring that access to third-level education is not limited to the privileged.
But even with almost half of all students exempted from the student contribution, it remains a challenge to many families, and we still need to find a longer-term solution to the funding of the third-level sector.
This is particularly so in view of the demographic challenges which we face in relation to the numbers entering Higher Education in the coming years.
We have to accommodate growing numbers in our third level system for at least the next 15 years, while also maintaining the quality of the education our students receive.
I want to welcome the publication of the NERI discussion paper on this document earlier today - it will be a very valuable part of the discussion in this area.
Let me restate a commitment I have made previously - there will be no increase of the student contribution to beyond €3,000 while I am Minister for Education and Skills.
I say this not in the hope that it will be welcomed, but to ensure that you and your families have further certainty about what to expect over the next couple of years.
Beyond changes to the student contribution, my immediate priority is to remove duplication from the system - to reduce the cost of third-level without damaging the student experience.
The work which is underway on the Compacts between the HEA and the individual Institutions will be at the heart of this approach, together with the development of the regional clusters.
Issues around the future funding of higher education are complex issues which require thoughtful and expert consideration.
As we know from experiences in other countries, there are no easy solutions.
In the US, the outstanding personal debt associated with student loans has now reached 1 trillion dollars - that is a cautionary figure for anyone advocating the introduction of student loans for undergraduates in Ireland.
Even in our neighbouring system in England, recent major changes which saw the introduction of very significant increases in fees together with a Student Loan System underwritten by Government are giving rise to a range of unexpected outcomes.
Large increases in personal debt for students are also becoming evident in the UK.
But equally questions are now emerging about whether the new regime is succeeding in providing adequate funding to maintain quality.
I am anxious to avoid this situation arising in
Ireland.
That is why I have asked that in depth consideration be given by my Department and the HEA to the longer term options available here.
It is important that we find a sustainable balance between the needs of the various parts of the HE system – students, Higher Education Institutions and Government.
I expect to have an initial report at the end of the year.
We will then need to have an important discussion on the possible options.
We owe it to future generations to ensure that the highest possible quality provision is available to them.
And that access to third-level never returns to being a benefit accessible to only the wealthy.
Conclusion
I’ve tried to keep my remarks brief today, to facilitate a discussion with your members.
I hope that my comments have allowed you to see the breadth of reform underway in the third-level sector.
I also hope that my commitment to recognising and improving upon student participation in all areas of higher education has been clarified.
Finally, I know that you have been disappointed by decisions taken by me in relation to the student contribution.
I hope that today I have been able to give you some idea of where I see this discussion going next.