An information strategy letting students, parents and communities know what funding is available for higher education is needed to ensure equal access for disadvantaged people, a report outlined today.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin
The Higher Education Authority's report maps out the nine different programmes which provide assistance to students, communities and institutions. Launching the report, the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin said promoting equality of access to higher education was of benefit to society as a whole.
"We are all aware of the opportunities that third and fourth level education brings to individuals and to our society and economy.
"Promoting equality of access to those educational opportunities is something to which I attach the highest importance," she said.
"From a social justice point of view and in our wider economic interest, it is essential that learners of all social, economic and cultural backgrounds have the opportunity to enter and participate in further and higher education and go on to lead fulfilled lives as active participants in society and the economy," Ms Hanafin said.
Ms Hanafin said her department had been operating a range of student grants since the 1970s, with 56,000 students set to benefit from almost €250 million allocated for next year.
There were a range of other funding programmes including the Back to Education Allowance, the Student Assistance Fund, the Fund for Students with Disabilities and the Millennium Partnership Fund, she said.
The report found students had difficulties navigating through the range of funding available, with each scheme having different merits, and recommended a comprehensive information strategy to explain the supports they could use.
The minister also said higher education institutions needed to prioritise equality of access. "We must take advantage of our increased resources to tackle and eliminate the obstacles that still exist for particular groups and communities.
Mary Hanafin
"Ultimately, everyone benefits from this approach, not just our vulnerable citizens but society as a whole. "The Government is strongly committed to achieving equality of opportunity in education at all levels and the higher education institutions are key players in ensuring that equal educational opportunity is a feature of our system.
"They now realise the importance of moving equality of access from the periphery into the mainstream and I will support them in this work," she said. Ms Hanafin said there was still work to be done to ensure learners from all backgrounds, particularly disabled people, had the opportunity to get into higher education.
She said the new €300 million Strategic Innovation Fund, announced last week to reform third level education, included objectives on enhancing access to colleges and universities.
PA