New cross-border collaborations in third level being explored, say Harris

The Government is “determined to step up” cross-border collaboration between third-level institutions with an exchange programme between colleges among the initiatives being considered, the Minister for Further and Higher Education has said.

Simon Harris said this could mean "doing a modular semester in the Republic whilst attending university in the North or vice versa" or the development of cross-border apprenticeships.

Mr Harris was speaking to The Irish Times during a visit to the Magee campus of Ulster University (UU) in Derry to examine the potential for collaboration in the north-west region ahead of meetings at Queen's University and with business leaders in Belfast.

He said he was "very eager" to see how the new Atlantic Technological University could "collaborate very closely" with Magee and UU and was conscious of the commitments given by the Irish and British governments in the New Decade New Approach agreement in 2020 around investment and an increased number of students at Magee.

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“I want to have a conversation today with senior management here about how we can realise that proposal, how we can actually turn a very significant commitment into concrete action.

“Obviously we’re awaiting a proposal. My understanding is there’s been a lot of collaboration between LYIT (Letterkenny Institute of Technology) and Magee, and particularly intensive collaboration in the last number of weeks, and I’d be hoping that in early 2022 we could receive a very detailed proposal as to how we could do more in Magee and do more in the north west region,” the Minister said.

Key areas for potential collaboration, Mr Harris said, would be around research clusters, the newly-opened medical school at Magee and the issue of access and inclusion.

He also said "I don't think we're where we need to be when it comes to student mobility" either north-south or between Ireland and the UK and that he had asked his officials to conduct a review of student mobility on the island of Ireland.

‘Embedding peace’

“It would be good for research, it would also be good for interpersonal relationships and further embedding peace and understanding if people were moving around the island more in terms of accessing education,” he said.

Responding to a report published today by the Northern Ireland-based independent think tank Pivotal which found sectarian divisions and political instability are encouraging young people to leave the North to study elsewhere, Mr Harris said there was a responsibility on education leaders and on both governments to do more and he genuinely believed “investment in education, in the North of course, but investment in the north west could be transformational”.

“I’m conscious as I visit Magee in 2021, I’m conscious people have been talking about these issues for a very, very long time, but I do get a sense there’s a bit of momentum,” he said.

"Both governments seem to be very committed to this issue, certainly the Irish Government is, and we need to now turn the rhetoric and the commitment into concrete policies."

Asked separately about homes affected by Mica in the north west and the call by the Mica Action Group for the sliding scale to be dropped from the redress scheme, Mr Harris backed the Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien and said he had “worked extraordinarily hard to deliver a scheme that is much more comprehensive in nature and much broader than the previous scheme”.

However, he appeared to indicate that the amount paid out to householders could change according to the annual rate set each year by the industry body.

Mr Harris said he thought there was “a bit of detail” in regard to the new scheme “that it would be important that people consider and work through and that we as a Government continue to engage with people on”.

He said that the Institute of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland set a rate each year and that “ we do need to be conscious that those rates move and that those rates can move upwards and are looked at every year”.

There was, he said, “an annual setting of rates” and the Government had chosen to go with the “industry model ... I think the fact that people are making a valid point about construction costs rising and the likes is something that can be addressed in the context.”