Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has announced a €300,000 fund aimed at improving access to higher education for the Travelling community.
In an announcement on Twitter, the Department of Higher Education said that the funding will be spent on a number of areas, including technology, study space, health and social impact, and caring responsibilities.
The Department added that the funding is “expected to have a positive impact on Traveller access to and retention in higher education”.
The announcement comes as part of the launch of the new Dormant Accounts Fund Action Plan for 2021, which was announced today by Minister of State for Community Development and Charities Joe O’Brien.
With 45 other measures approved for funding in 2021, this programme is one of the more ambitious measures of the new government and has achieved a sizable increase in investment in the last few years.
In a statement on Twitter Harris said: “It is important to be able to safeguard increases in participation in higher education by the Traveller community during this pandemic and mitigate against the risk of long-term damage arising from COVID-19.”
On the topic of implementation Harris added that he plans on “working with and engaging with higher education institutions and local and national Traveller organisations to ensure the successful roll-out of the actions in the Action Plan for increasing Traveller Participation in Higher Education”.
While Ireland has one of the highest percentages of third-level graduates in the European Union, Travellers remain one of the most underrepresented groups at third-level, with reportedly only 1 per cent of the group receiving a third-level education.
Last month, some 14,000 higher education places without fees or with reduced fees were announced to help support workers affected by coronavirus restrictions.
Harris also announced €30 million in funding to support part-time or postgraduate college places.
Additionally, as part of the government’s jobs stimulus package, announced last July, workers hit by restrictions will be helped to upskill. This funding package aims to ease the financial burden of those seeking training or education.
The package will fund the fees for almost 12,000 places on modular courses, as well as 2,500 postgraduate places. Modular courses are short courses which can be done remotely or part-time, in order to allow people to gain skills without leaving their jobs.
