Ninth Level Ireland

“Starting college in 2020 will be an experience like none that has gone before it. The moves to more online learning, the lack of opportunities to socialise and social distancing measures will mean that students and staff have to adapt to a whole new and challenging environment …” (more)

[Laura Harmon, University Times, 7 October]

“Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if further consideration has been given to or the status of a financial package for the third-level institutions; and if so, if it will include increased SUSI, HEAR, DARE and Access funding to ensure expansion of access to third-level education …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 14 July]

“Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps she will take to improve access to higher education for members of the Traveller community …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 14 July]

“On the 4th of July, the Irish Government published their National Action Plan (NAP) for Increasing Traveller Participation in Higher Education. The plan was originally launched last November by TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor in TU Dublin, on World Access to Higher Education Day …” (more)

[Ann Jaffray, College Tribune, 9 July]

“Almost four months after the general election, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party have drawn up a programme for government, which will now be put to their members for a vote …” (more)

[Aoife Kearins and Emer Moreau, University Times, 15 June]

“DCU has said it has seen a 183% increase in students looking for help from its Student Assistance Fund since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. The Dublin university has today launched the Covid-19 Student Emergency Fund in response to the challenges and financial hardship facing students due to the Covid-19 global pandemic …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 20 May]

“When you grow up as a working-class kid, you learn somehow that poverty is somehow your fault, or the fault of your family. You never have enough money because you don’t budget properly, not because our welfare payments don’t meet a minimum essential standard of living …” (more)

[Gary Gannon, University Times, 13 May]

“Minister welcomes continuation of funding for students as well as increased access to laptops and desktops. Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor has highlighted the range of supports available to students in higher education, particularly from groups traditionally under-represented in higher level education, during Covid-19 …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 27 April]

“Sir, – Higher education funding is 40% less now than it was a decade ago. If we are to maintain quality and equity of access for students, we need to ensure that the sector is funded properly. Colleges have been valiantly trying to uphold standards while they are being starved of funding …” (more)

[Laura Harmon, Irish Times, 7 March]

“When Trinity PhD student Patrick McDonagh, a member of the Travelling community, called this week for the creation of a seat for Travellers in the Seanad, he made an important point. McDonagh argued that implementing a route to political representation for Travellers would ‘mark the beginning of what would still be a long journey to giving Travellers a role in the State, in proportion to our place and population within it’ …” (more)

[University Times, 14 July]

“‘We don’t need easy, because nothing is going to really be easy for us, we just need possible’ said Niamh Donnelly, student ambassador of the Maynooth University Access Programme. The third year law student was quoting from her favourite film Soul Surfer …” (more)

[Sarah Mooney, Irish Times, 11 July]

“It’s hard to be sanguine about access to third-level education in Ireland, particularly given the news this week that only 1% of Travellers progress to higher education. Among the wider population, the figure is 55%. In real terms, there were 41 Travellers in third-level education last year, out of around 250,000 students in third-level education in general …” (more)

[University Times, 23 December]

“Just 1% of Traveller children progress to third-level education compared with more than half of the wider community, latest figures show. The finding is contained in a review of the Government’s plan to boost numbers of marginalised groups in the higher-education system …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 21 December]

“The HEA welcomes the publication of the Progress Review of the National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education. The Review highlights the important achievements made since the launch of the plan in 2015. These include increases in participation rates across a number of the target groups, with particularly high increases for students with disabilities and among socio-economically disadvantaged groups …” (more)

[HEA, 21 December]

“John Walshe, Columnist with The Irish Independent, Katriona O’Sullivan, Lecturer with the Turn to Teaching Project in Maynooth University, Shauna Dunlop, Director of Apprenticeship and Work Based Learning SOLAS and Anne Looney, Executive Dean in DCU Institute of Education, discuss the social divide among students going on to third level education …” (mp3)

[RTÉ – Drivetime, 5 November]

“Five people describe the obstacles they have overcome to make it to third-level. When Emma Lockwood was growing up in Dublin’s north inner city, she could see two versions of her future mapped out in front of her: have a baby or do a Fás course …” (more)

[Jennifer O’Connell, Irish Times, 1 December]

“Sir, – Olive Byrne, UCC’s access officer, points out that ‘if reading scores from a local primary [school] are below average, that’s where the targeting needs to happen’ (Peter McGuire, ‘Mind the gap: Tackling the class divide at third level’, Education, March 6th). Here in the National College of Ireland, we believe that early intervention and partnership with parents are the answers to closing the class divide at third level …” (more)

[Josephine Bleach, Irish Times, 12 March]

“The Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton TD and Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD today announced a new €5.7m ‘Higher Education Access Fund’ to support students from underrepresented groups to access higher education. Funding will be given to regional clusters of institutions to support approved access initiatives …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 22 February]

“Up to 2,000 students such as lone parents and Travellers who are under-represented at third level will be funded to go to college as part of a State plan to boost access to higher education. Almost €6 million is being provided to universities and institutes of technology to support a range of access initiatives over the next three years …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 22 February]

“The National University of Ireland, Galway (NUI Galway) Access Centre has introduced 170 new full-time places for undergraduate students entering from Quality and Qualifications Ireland (QQI), Further Education and Training (FET), and Further Education and Training Awards Council (FETAC) routes …” (more)

[Aoife Ní Chadhain, Trinity News, 18 January]