Ó An Roinn Breisoideachais agus Ardoideachais, Taighde, Nuálaíochta agus Eolaíochta
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Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris and Minister of State for Further Education and Skills Niall Collins have today announced further details on the tertiary education package for Budget 2024.
These include:
From September 2024, a part-time fee grant scheme is being developed to provide support for students who are undertaking eligible undergraduate part time programmes leading to a major award, both in-person/ blended and online.
Speaking today, Minister Harris said:
“One of the priorities for Budget 2024 is reducing child poverty. The expansion of supports to part time has the potential to transform how education is accessed by those most in need.
“Education has the power to transform lives, lift people out of poverty and break down cycles of intergenerational poverty.
“The fees associated with part-time programmes are a key barrier to higher education access. This will benefit vulnerable cohorts including low-income families including lone parents, teen parents, widows and carers.
“We will work towards maintenance grants in future years. However, this is a great first step.”
Minister Harris added:
“I am really pleased we have secured funding for an increase in the PhD stipend for researchers under the remit of SFI and IRC.
“This is the third increase we have introduced for PhD researchers and it goes a significant way to addressing the challenges they face.
“Ireland wants to be an Innovation Island and an Island of Talent. To do that, we must support our researchers. This increase will bring the stipend to €22,000 a year and will be effective from January.”
In addition, the department will introduce a new scheme aimed at assisting small and medium enterprises with the cost of upskilling their staff.
An additional €1 million is being provided to design and pilot a scheme to incentivise SMEs to participate in lifelong learning. This pilot will focus on areas of particular challenges including digital skills, climate skills and transversal skills.
Minister Harris added:
“This is an exciting development. The OECD Review confirmed that Ireland performs relatively poorly in terms of investment in workplace training and people in employment engaging in lifelong learning.
“This will change under this new scheme. We will work with businesses to design a scheme that works for them.”
Minister of State Collins also confirmed PLC fees are to be abolished for further education students with effect from September 2024.
Minister Collins said:
“While we abolished the €200 PLC levy already, students continue to face various fees such as student services charges, application fees, exam fees and professional registration fees.
“The fees charged vary across the Education and Training Boards and while some ETBs have moved to reduce their fees, this additional funding will ensure all 24,000 learners across the country do not face fees, when pursuing a PLC course from September next.
“We have prioritised further education learners in this Budget and will continue to do so.”
Minister Collins also confirmed funding would be provided to roll out the Further Education Strategy Future FET: Transforming Learning 2020-2024 . The Strategy focuses on building skills and fostering inclusion and facilitating pathways to deliver a more strategic and integrated FET system.
The Parameters of this scheme are still being worked through but the following outlines initial proposals for phase 1
A SUSI administered means test will determine eligibility for this scheme. Applicants with reckonable incomes under €55,924 will be able to apply. It is proposed to apply the means test in a broadly similar way to how it is currently applied for full time courses under the Student Grant Scheme.