THE RUMOURED extension of the Higher Education Grants Scheme to Irish students in third level courses in Britain (and possibly courses in other EU institutions) remains a murky issue. Its possible outcome has been obscured by the Department of Education's failure to make a concrete decision on the details of such a scheme, the unhappiness of grant awarding bodies with the Department's lack of progress and, finally, the Minister for Education's unenlightening reply to a Dail question on the subject.
According to the Department of Education, the Minister, Niamh Bhreathnach, has made a decision "in principle" to extend grant aid to "approved" courses in Britain and it appears that this move will also apply to "approved" courses within the EU.
This begs the question, what exactly constitutes an "approved course", for, behind this designation lies a wealth of problems for the Minister. She has already agreed what are essentially quotas for entry to medicine with the Irish Medical Organisation, while courses such a pharmacy and radiography have, in the past, produced graduates to meet the demands of the market. If the Minister extends grants to all British third level courses, then this will upset the applecart, since the Minister can hardly agree quotas with the IMO on one side and then extend grants to students who decide to go to the Britain to study medicine on the other.
Similarly, the entry onto the jobs market of a large number of British qualified pharmacists and radiologists would create considerable unhappiness among Irish third level providers of these qualifications.
One solution may be to extend grants only to non professional courses, but this could leave the Minister open to a legal challenge possibly under EU laws, against restrictions on the mobility of labour. The Minister appears to be in a Catch 22 situation and the term "approved course" may be a means of providing space to manoeuvre.
"My worry is that the term `approved courses' suggests a restricted approach to this," Micheal Martin, Fianna Fail spokesman on education says. "Who will decide what an approved course is and will there be time to appeal the definition?"
According to a spokesperson for the Department, the details are still being finalised and are unlikely to be available until May, when this year's Student Support Scheme is published.
"It's too late already," says Micheal Martin. "The announcement was made in the 1995 budget and it's extraordinary that it should take 18 months to reach a decision. Students planning to travel to Britain to study will have already had to make a decision to apply to UCAS, the central applications system for third level study there.
"The interest is there, for two to three factors," says Brother Michael Curran of the Irish Student Network in Britain. "There is the natural overflow from the Irish system and then the word was out that there would be university grants available."
ACCORDING TO figures from UCAS, applications to UK colleges from students in the Republic jumped by almost 4,000 this year, from 9,563 to 13,402. Of those 9,563, only 4,298 took up their offers, but combined with those Irish students already studying in the UK, they bring the total number of Irish in UK third level institutions up to around 10,000.
"When people were applying to UCAS they had no idea whether they were going to get a grant or not," says Bob Jordan, deputy president of USI. "The Department should have got its act together long before now. The announcement, when it comes, will be too late for many people and those who did need it probably won't benefit, since those most in need of a grant might not have risked an application without the guarantee of a grant.
"It should be extended to every student, regardless of the course. These places simply aren't available any more, and UK colleges, like private colleges, are taking up the slack."
The value of the grant is also a problem. Student maintenance grants in the UK have been severely reduced in recent years, but are still approximately twice the level of maintenance grants in the Republic.
UK students can avail of a loan from the Student Loan Company (up to £1,695 per annum for students studying away from home in London, £1,385 p.a. for students studying elsewhere in the country, and £1,065 p.a. for students living at home), but this is a double edged sword: students must start to pay back the loan from the April after they graduate, at an interest rate of 3.5 per cent plus an inflation factor.
Despite criticisms of tee system, Irish students in the UK have no similar recourse and are heavily reliant on parental support or their own earnings.
Finally, there remain the mechanisms for processing grant applications. Most students will find themselves applying to their own local authorities for grant assistance under the Higher Education Grants Scheme, yet these local authorities are, by and large, overworked as things stand. In 1994/95, there were 24,936 holders of grants attending. Irish third level colleges at a total.
Before the widening of the Higher Education Grants Scheme in 1991/92 Dublin Corporation dealt with around 800 grants. Last year, this had risen to 4,000 grants but staff levels had not risen commensurately. The result, as grant aided students will attest, is the late payment of much needed funds.
Among local authorities, there is considerable unhappiness with the Department's failure to reach an early decision on the extension of the grant scheme, or to consult widely on the implications of the extension third level grant sections are already fielding questions from possible applicants, questions which are effectively being fielded into the outer darkness of Department of Education policy.
In the end, tee signs are ominous. "The Minister for Education is equivocating on this right up to the last minute and the signs are that the announcement that is made probably won't be the one students expect," says Bob Jordan. "They will be hoping for the extension of the grant to all courses, but the fact that the Minister has already qualified it as `approved' courses means it will probably be some sort of fudge."
