In July the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton, published a policy statement on foreign direct investment (FDI) in Ireland. On August 20th, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) published a consultation paper, Towards a New National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education.
Of the two policy issues – how we will retain and improve our global position in attracting FDI, and how we will generate greater equality of opportunity for access to higher education – the first is a hard- nosed economic issue while the second is usually seen as a softer, social issue.
To most people the two issues, and the policy documents recently published, have little, if anything, in common.
Most people are wrong.
Equity of access to higher education is as much a hard-nosed economic issue as it is about the right of every individual to develop her abilities without discrimination on the grounds of economic status, age or disability. Unless we realise that, and act accordingly, we will not achieve our broader social and economic goals, never mind the FDI objectives.
In his July statement, Bruton set out the three key differentiators for Ireland that we need to nurture. Talent topped the list: “Ireland will be distinguished internationally not only by having a sustainable supply of world-class core competences but also by the higher-order abilities of its workforce and graduate output.”
Demographic demand
To make this very sound objective a reality, Ireland needs more graduates. To reach the current national target (60 per cent of those in the 30-34 age group to have a higher-education qualification by 2020) requires at the very least maintaining current participation rates. To keep pace with demographic demand alone requires increasing the number of new entrants by about 11 per cent up to 2016.
This rate of increase represents a major challenge to higher-education institutions. And yet there is mounting evidence that it may not be enough to meet Ireland’s skills needs. Recent projections from Solas, on the basis of the Economic and Social Research Institute’s medium-term review 2013-2020, indicates that in a scenario of economic recovery (which looks increasingly to be the case) graduate outflow at this projected level would fall short of labour market demand by 20 per cent – or 7,000 graduates a year.
So where do we find the graduates we need? Here is the tie-up between hard-nosed economics and the human right to personal development.
Ireland has made great progress in recent decades in moving from a situation where higher education was the preserve of a small minority to the current position where the proportion of the population aged 30-34 years old with higher-education qualifications is the highest in the European Union. This turnaround is due to the value placed on education by Irish people, as well as sound policy choices and investment at various levels of the education system. It has been the cause and effect of the growing sophistication of our economy, which increasingly demanded higher-order skills.
Deep educational disadvantage
The demand for such skills, and the connection with higher education, has not gone unnoticed by a savvy public. Nationally, well over half of young people enter higher education immediately or shortly after post-primary school. In some parts of Ireland, including some Dublin postal districts, effectively all eligible candidates enter higher education. But, as our consultation paper reveals, there are areas of deep educational disadvantage, in large part mirroring economic disadvantage across the country. The participation rate is as low as 41 per cent in some counties, and in some parts of Dublin it is 16 per cent. This is a tragedy for the young people concerned, who, in an economy increasingly requiring higher-level skills, are shut out from these well-paid jobs.
But this also directly affects the Irish economy. We cannot fill the likely skills demands from sectors of society that are already at, or close to, full participation. We can of course fill the vacancies through inward migration, and this should always be in our policy armoury. But does it not make more sense socially, morally and economically, to reach into areas of low participation to meet more of the demand? Because these are reservoirs of immense potential economic benefit – reservoirs of native Irish talent.
The HEA, working with the Minister for Education, her department and broader society, wants to unlock the economic potential that exists among thousands of young Irish people. It is our intention that the consultation process over the next few weeks will bring forward innovative ways to address this most complex issue. We will then publish a new national plan for equity of access to higher education with clear actions, targets and metrics.
John Hennessy is chairman of the Higher Education Authority
