Financial supports for third-level students from Ukraine are under review with the aim of bringing them into alignment with those available to Irish students.
There are 1,255 Ukrainian refugees studying in Ireland’s universities and some 600 more in further education courses. The supports on offer were reduced for new Ukrainian third-level entrants last September.
A Department of Higher Education briefing for new Minister James Lawless shows that more changes are under consideration.
Tuition fees are paid for full-time Ukrainian students through the Temporary Tuition Fee Support Scheme (TTFSS). This sees the applicable EU tuition fee for the student paid to the Ukrainian student’s third-level institution, with different rates at different colleges.
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There is also a financial stipend for Ukrainian students, which stood at a reduced rate of €900 per month for new entrants last September. Existing students continue to get the higher monthly payment of €1,150.
Separately, there is a bursary for Ukrainian students taking up a Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) course with their local Education and Training Board (ETB). This bursary previously stood at €6,115. It stayed at that level last September for students living 30km or more from their college, but was reduced to €2,575 for new entrants living closer.
The briefing for Mr Lawless sets out how measures to assist Ukrainian refugees pursuing further and higher education studies here were approved in June 2022, around four months after the Russian invasion of their home country.
The partially redacted papers say: “This reflected a desire at the time to respond to an emerging crisis in Ukraine, by putting in place a system of tertiary supports that could respond to the immediate needs of BOTPs [beneficiaries of temporary protection] in an open and fair manner.”
The briefing adds: “There is a need to review the Temporary Tuition Fee Support Scheme and other temporary tertiary education Ukrainian support schemes to bring them into alignment with the supports available to Irish nationals.”
There is a fee of up to €3,000 for Irish students to attend third-level education, although this was reduced by €1,000 as part of once-off cost-of-living measures in the budget.
There are also means-tested SUSI grants that Irish students can apply for to help with the cost of third-level education.
Another section of the briefing document on “student support & SUSI” notes that “supports for Ukrainians in 2025 require determination”.
The Department of Higher Education did not offer an indication of what changes are under consideration.
“The arrangements for the next academic year will be communicated to students in the coming period,” it said.
Separately, the Leaving Cert and a phased return to normal results following several years of grade inflation linked to the Covid-related disruption to education is also referenced in the briefing. It outlines how the minister for education announced in April 2024 that the State Examinations Commission would begin the process of Leaving Certificate grade adjustment in 2025 with a proposed 1.5 per cent reduction in grades across the board.
The Department of Higher Education is said to be “engaging with colleagues in [the] Department of Education and sectoral representatives to mitigate any arising risks”.
The briefing also outlines progress made in addressing a backlog of apprentices waiting six months or more for phase two job training provided by ETBs' craft apprenticeships system.
The National Apprenticeship Office (NAO) is said to have been implementing a priority plan since November 2023 “to significantly increase training places and reduce the backlog to a manageable level, which is anticipated to be achieved by March 2025”.
The document credits Government investment in apprenticeships and the recruitment of about 100 new instructors with contributing to a “sustained reduction” in the backlog from 5,319 in October 2023 to 1,427 in January 2025.
Elsewhere, the document sets out how there was an expectation that approximately 45,000 people would be enrolled in English language courses by the end of 2024. That is up from the 9,095 learners in ETB English for Speakers of other Languages (ESOL) courses in 2021.
At the end of 2024 there were 38,335 learners enrolled in ESOL courses, of which 21,651 were Ukrainians or other nationalities who have temporary protection in Ireland.
