Official Report: Minutes of Evidence

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I welcome the following departmental officials who will brief the Committee and answer any questions that we have: Mark McLean, acting chief agricultural economist; and Sharon Muldoon, head of education policy. Thank you very much for attending today and for facilitating our short break. Please brief the Committee.

Mr Mark McLean (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): Thank you, Chair and Committee members, for the welcome and the opportunity to speak to you today about the proposed statutory rule (SR) that would make amendments to the Agriculture (Student Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2023.

The regulations intend to apply an inflationary increase of 2·7% to the higher education (HE) student fees at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) for the academic year 2026-27. That is in line with the Department's policy position to maintain parity with the higher education tuition fee amounts framework set by the Department for the Economy for all the other higher education courses that are provided by higher education providers in Northern Ireland.

In addition, the higher education student fee amount charged to students from Great Britain at CAFRE for the academic year 2026-27 will increase from £9,535 to £9,790 to reflect the level set by the Department for Education in England. That maintains parity with the charge set by all other higher education providers in Northern Ireland.

As in previous years, the proposed statutory rule will continue the two-fee framework approach, referred to as the "current fee framework" and the "2022 legacy fee framework", to ensure that those eligible students who commenced their current higher education course before 1 September 2022 continue on the student fee framework that was in place prior to the introduction of the new higher education student fee policy. The proposed statutory rule will extend the 2022 legacy fee framework for a final year and will cease to operate from the beginning of the 2027-28 academic year.

The proposed statutory rule amends the definition of an international student. It makes it clear that students who do not fall within any qualifying persons category in schedule 2 for home student fee status or GB student fee status will be charged the international student fee. That ensures that UK and Irish citizens who do not meet the three-year residency requirement will be charged the international fee amount, in line with other higher education providers in Northern Ireland.

My colleague Sharon Muldoon and I will be happy to take any questions from the Committee.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you very much. I really appreciate that. I have a couple of questions. Has there been an assessment of whether any students may be at risk of financial disadvantage during the transition?

Ms Sharon Muldoon (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs): I can answer that one. A range of supports are available to students, as they are across the whole HE sector in Northern Ireland. Students can apply for maintenance loans, maintenance grants and tuition fee loans. There are some additional supports available to students in CAFRE. There is a higher education access bursary that can make up 10% of a student's fees. A hardship fund is also available for any students who may be really struggling because of financial hardship and are possibly at risk of not completing their studies. That is provided on a one-to-one, case-by-case basis. Of course, CAFRE also awards a care-experience bursary of £1,000 to young people who have been care-experienced at any stage.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): That is excellent. I did not know that. It is news to me. I am particularly glad to hear that. Is that information widely shared with, for instance, Voice of Young People in Care (VOYPIC), Barnardo's and agencies in the trusts, given that we know that record numbers of children are looked-after or care-experienced?

Ms Muldoon: The care-experience bursary is under the widening access and participation plan that CAFRE voluntarily has in place, so it is funded through that. Certainly, the children's champion in DAERA is involved in work with the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People (NICCY) and the people who participate there.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Excellent. I am certainly interested in finding out a little bit more about that. It is nicely placed. Thank you.

The number of applications for CAFRE is not necessarily in line with the increase in fees, but it may have an impact. Are we meeting the targets for applications and filling spaces? If we are not, is there any danger that those spaces will not be taken?

Mr McLean: Enrolments have held up well. From 2022-23, they have been fairly constant. There were 557 enrolments in 2022-23, and that went up to 599 in 2023-24. In 2025-26, there were 538, and, next year, there are projected to be 511. Total enrolments at CAFRE were 1,851 in 2022-23 and 1,858 in 2025-26. So —.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): What is the optimum capacity? I would love to see CAFRE being built out a bit further. The opportunities in agri-farm and agri-food are quite significant.

Mr McLean: The best thing to do is to take that question away. We will get back to the Committee on what the capacity is.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Brilliant. This is the final question from me. Do you have the expected total additional income that will be generated by the increase in fees?

Ms Muldoon: Yes, the expected additional income, based on projections, is £39,000. That will bring the expected total fee income from student fees to £1·57 million.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I appreciate that. Thank you very much.

Declan?

Mr McAleer: No, Chair. I was going to ask about a rural needs impact assessment, but I see that it is mentioned in the notes.

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): I very nearly credited you with that when I was reading it.

Are there any other questions, members? No. Everyone is content.

Thank you very much for your indulgence, and thank you for the news about care-experienced children and the additional support that is available. You mentioned the young people's champion in DAERA. Will you follow that up for me or the Committee? Mark, if you do not mind, I would like to promote that a wee bit and learn a bit more about it. Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Following on from what we have heard today, and bearing in mind that the SL1 stage is the last opportunity for the Committee to influence the policy approach, are members content that we have sufficient information to make a formal decision on the draft SR?

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): If the Committee is content that no further evidence or action from the Department is required, I will put the Question.

Are members agreed that the Committee for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs has considered the Agriculture (Student Fees) (Amendment) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2026 and has no objection to the rule, subject to the Examiner of Statutory Rules' report?

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Apologies, members. There is a bit that I should have read out at the end of the ANC briefing from the sheep sector and the UFU. Following on from the RaISe briefing on 4 June on the ANC Bill and review of costs, are members content that the Committee writes to DAERA to seek responses from the Bill team to the questions and issues raised in the cost paper in order to inform Committee scrutiny?

The Chairperson (Mr Butler): Thank you, members. I appreciate it.