Ninth Level Ireland

“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]

“Can university degrees be accelerated? This is the question a recent government consultation seeks to answer. Steven Jones writes that, mathematically, three years of learning could indeed be compressed into two. But he explains why the option would be viewed very differently across social classes, and why it is not a good idea …” (more)

[Impact of Social Sciences, 20 December]

“The President of CIT has said that the time is right to re-open discussions about a northside third level campus. Dr Barry O’Connor, the interim President of CIT, made the comment after census results revealed a shocking divide in the numbers accessing third level education in the city …” (more)

[Kevin O’Neill, Evening Echo, 25 November]

“Hundreds of homemakers have signed up for free higher education courses as part of an initiative aimed at filling skills shortages. The Springboard+ scheme provides access to courses at certificate, degree and masters level in areas such as advanced manufacturing, business and entrepreneurship and ICT …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 31 October]

“The Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton, TD, and the Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, today (Wednesday 23rd August) announced €16.5m for new initiatives to widen access to higher education over the next three years, with a strong focus on helping lone parents to access higher level education …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 23 August]

“In 1984 I took up a position as principal of a newly opened second-level school in a severely disadvantaged area. Unemployment among parents was in excess of 60%. A survey carried out two years previously found that nobody living in the catchment area had a third level qualification. So, as the school approached full cycle in 1989, the question of third level access became a priority issue …” (more)

[Brian Fleming, Education Matters, 26 July]

“During the 1980s, university was a pathway open to the elite, upper-middle class and those academically fortunate to win a scholarship. Free fees were still a few years away and programmes for young people traditionally locked out of third-level education were non-existent …” (more)

[TheJournal.ie, 21 May]

“Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the value of additional funding received by universities or other third level institutions for the purposes of improving access, including premium level of funding for target students; the institutions in receipt of such funding; the amount received by each institution over the past five years and to date in 2017; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 9 May]

“A student loan scheme linked to graduates’ income would not hinder access to higher education by poorer students, an Oireachtas committee has heard. The possibility of such a loan scheme is being examined by the Oireachtas committee on education as part of a series of hearings over the future funding of higher education …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 2 May]

“In December 2016, the ongoing debate around a class divide in Irish education was illuminated by the emergence of new information. Through the analysis of figures published by the State Examinations Commission and several universities, Trinity News calculated that an Irish student is more than four times more likely to attend Trinity if they have attended one of Ireland’s 51 private schools …” (more)

[Jane Purdom, Trinity News, 12 April]