AQW 6026/17-22
Mr Stewart Dickson
Alliance Party
East Antrim
Tabled Date: 18/08/2020
Answered On Date: 02/09/2020
Priority Written: Yes
Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy what action she will take to support and adequately fund local Further and Higher Education institutions to ensure opportunities for young people, as well as maximising the economic benefits of these institutions.
Answer:
FURTHER EDUCATION For the 2020/21 period, my Department has already allocated a resource budget of £211.3 million to the Further Education (FE) sector, representing over 20% of the Department’s resource budget. The allocation includes £22.8 million of additional funding to colleges this year. My Department initially secured £1.078 million of additional resource funding for the FE colleges which was allocated as part of June monitoring. This was used to provide laptops, related equipment and software for financially vulnerable learners and staff to assist with digital and remote study and working during the initial lockdown period. More recently, I secured £5.5 million to support the safe resumption of learning in further education, this will provide additional IT equipment, cover additional staff costs and embed appropriate measures to provide for safe resumption of further education delivery at campuses across Northern Ireland. An additional £0.43 million has also been allocated to meet the cost to date of funding direct payment of Free School Meal Allowances into the households of almost 1,900 eligible school-age FE students. In addition capital investment of circa £34.4 million has been allocated in the current financial year to enable colleges to progress the delivery of the planned capital works programme. This will also fund essential equipment to deliver critical skills for the Northern Ireland economy and achieve the strategic outcomes which I and the Executive have set. It is important that FE colleges are enabled to welcome as many learners as possible to return to college and this funding will help progress this. HIGHER EDUCATION (HE) HE Enrolments for 2020/21 My Department has already increased the number of higher education places, even before the change in policy on AS and A Level grades. For the academic year 2020-21, the Department has already looked to the potential impact of Covid19 creating an additional demand for local places. Through the June monitoring round, an additional allocation of £1.5 million was secured which would deliver an increase of 5% funded places over three years. At the end of three years, the recurring commitment to maintain that 5% uplift will be £7.1 million. This will see an additional 1,232 places available within the local HE sector, with 410 available for academic year 2020-21. My Department advised the universities that it is reinstating maximum student number (MaSN) to the level it was in 2015 prior to budgetary cuts which were applied to the sector which saw an agreed reduction to MaSN. Including the 410 mentioned this will increase the MaSN for the sector for 2020-21 by 1,730. Until our universities have received access to the full range of revised grades for all applicant students, they will not be able to confirm places for students or otherwise. As such, we don’t yet know whether the overall quantum will actually remain fairly stable for Northern Ireland as a whole, with any potential increases focussed only in a single institution, or whether we will see increases across the institutions. While we will need to examine the issue in the round, taking into account the impacts on different institutions, the higher education sector as a whole, and the impact on the FE colleges, I am very pleased that my Executive colleagues share my belief that we have a responsibility to our young people, and have agreed to provide any additional funding which may be required. HE Mobility International students are vital to our universities from an economic and social perspective, providing diversity on campus by exposing local students to different cultures and different ways of thinking, and by generating income and enabling universities to continue to maintain and develop high quality teaching and learning for local students. I have therefore raised the subject of our HEIs’ difficulty in attracting international students directly with Minister Donelan, Minister of State for Universities, and have written to the Home Office outlining the issues and requesting further support. I will continue to seek bold and proactive measures in the area of immigration and visa issues to assist our HEIs achieve their international student aspirations. Widening Participation My Department requires that HE providers that charge above the basic fee must spend a minimum of 10% of that additional fee income on activities and support to widen access and participation to HE. HE providers must detail this spending in widening access and participation plans which are submitted to my Department for review and approval on an annual basis. Providers are required to determine the most effective way to spend this money which is used for direct financial support to students, outreach and retention activities. This is a means of ensuring there are opportunities for young people from disadvantaged and under-represented backgrounds to enter and progress through HE. HE in FE There are a range of opportunities for young people to study HE within the FE Colleges. For various reasons, the FE sector has not met HE enrolment targets in recent years. My Department is working with the sector to address this in order to ensure this HE pathway, which offers routes to employment and progression opportunities for young people, is fully utilised. Research Universities play a key role in sustaining and growing a vibrant economy, particularly in a small economy such as Northern Ireland. Recent Studies by London Economics found that Queen’s and Ulster Universities contribute a total of £3.2 billion to the UK economy. It is estimated that every £1million invested in research activity at Queen’s and Ulster generates an additional £3.9 million and £3.17 million respectively across the UK economy. The role of the higher education research base will be vital as we seek to rebuild our economy in the wake of the Covid19 pandemic. My Department has already provided an additional £5.6 million to support Queen’s and Ulster University’s research functions at this time, and is actively exploring opportunities to attract further funding for local university research. EMPLOYER SKILLS Through my Department, the Assured Skills programme continues to be delivered both by Further and Higher education institutions in response to business needs. In response to the pandemic, the Assured Skills team reacted quickly to the needs of business and in working closely with both FE and HE training providers, successfully transitioned from classroom based learning to delivering online Academies. Companies coming out of lockdown are very encouraged by this new way of remote learning and as at 21 August 2020, eight academies are at various stages of recruitment and delivery, with two completed, resulting in 38 of the 41 participants gaining employment. In June 2020, 150 free places were funded by the Department for the Economy (£307,000) for a Post-Graduate Certificate in Software Development at Queen’s University Belfast. This part-time course offered an opportunity, for those whose careers were impacted by COVID19, to upskill individuals in a subject area anticipated to be in demand for future economic growth. The Skills Focus programme, delivered by my Department across Northern Ireland by the six FE colleges, is targeted at companies with fewer than 250 employees, and is now offering fully funded upskilling for employees including those who are furloughed. The 25% cost to businesses has been removed, until 31 March 2021, to support companies throughout the pandemic. In June 2020, my Department published ‘Rebuilding a Stronger Economy’, a framework for the next 12-18 months to build a more competitive, inclusive and greener economy that delivers higher paying jobs, a highly skilled workforce and a more regionally balanced economy My Department is currently developing a new Skills Strategy for Northern Ireland. It is clear that as we continue to rebuild our economy, for the benefit of all Northern Ireland’s citizens, strong, strategic investment in the skills system will be vital. The skills of our people are Northern Ireland’s most important resource. I will continue to make the case for prioritisation of skills funding to my colleagues in the Executive, Assembly and across civic society.
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