OPINION:Fine Gael will not oppose the Government if an equitable way of funding third-level institutions is proposed, writes BRIAN HAYES.
FINE GAEL has always said that if the Government is making the right decisions we will support those decisions. Recent cases where this happened was on the bank guarantee scheme, which Fine Gael supported, or when the Government acted on Fine Gael calls for recapitalising the banks, the need for a supplementary budget or to begin culling the mass of quangos that sprang up under Fianna Fáil.
Third-level education funding could become one of those issues.
I believe that now more than ever, after our economy has been dragged over the cliff by Fianna Fáil in Government, it is vital that good decisions get supported rather than opposed for opposition’s sake.
If we want to build on the decision of Fine Gael and Labour in the mid-1990s to introduce free fees that saw the participation rate in higher education jump from the mid-40s to over 60 per cent today we have to recognise the gaps in the system.
If we want to reposition higher education in Ireland we have got to be prepared to fund it. I recognise that the current financing of our universities and institutes of technology are simply unsustainable and a new funding model has got to be found.
Last March I proposed on behalf of my party, a new graduate PRSI contribution scheme. The new scheme would allow for the abolition of college registration fees and see new entrants to college, after graduation, make a contribution through the PRSI system of up to 30 per cent of the cost of their college education.
Crucially, this takes the burden off parents with children of college-going age and allows the graduate to make a contribution when they are reaping the benefits of their education. Payment is only made when you’re in work and when you can afford to pay.
Up to last weekend the Minister was decidedly vague and uncertain about what policy he was going to propose. In traditional Fianna Fáil mode he asked an expert group to report to him by year’s end on the issue of reform within the higher education sector.
At the weekend, however, newspaper leaks suggested that options were now going to be considered by Cabinet and that the Australian student loans model of funding was the preferred option of the Minister.
It seems that, finally, we are getting somewhere. This option, while having its flaws, is not a million miles away from Fine Gael’s graduate PRSI scheme. Both retain the “free at entry” principle, both involve a payment made after graduation and both provide some certainty over funding streams.
I believe our model is superior for a number of reasons, but maybe we can bridge the gap. Our approach is simpler as it cuts out banks, loan documents and a whole layer of bureaucracy and simply deducts a contribution from your PRSI when you start working. The Fine Gael approach is harder to avoid by self-employed people and there is obviously no interest on the contribution you have to make. Keeping our banks out of this particular education equation has merits for me as this should be all about funding higher education, not about new business for our bankers.
I believe that three simple principles should dominate our approach to this issue.
Firstly, the system must be free at the point of entry, thereby ensuring that there are no barriers to young people who want to go to college.
Secondly, new funding must be found for student supports and particularly for those students from poorer backgrounds. In a word, access is the key. Thirdly, we must link any new funding scheme to a tangible improvement in quality. If we are asking young people to make a contribution towards their education, they must have a much bigger say in the quality and performance of that education system.
In the course of this debate it can’t be business as usual for the institutes or the universities. For far too many of the colleges, the real issue is student numbers rather than the quality of the courses they offer. If we are asking graduates to pay something back for their education, we also have to drive a reform agenda within the higher education sector. That means encouraging colleges to specialise in core areas, new co-ordination between universities and institutes, fundamental changes to student supports, a radical overhaul of the Department of Education, rigorous assessment for research funding and changing the rules on philanthropy to encourage the potential of additional funding for the sector.
Anyone who pretends that the current status quo can continue indefinitely is fooling themselves. That’s why it would be a really positive thing if the Government and Opposition were to find agreement on this issue. I won’t write a blank cheque for the Minister, but I am prepared to work with him in developing a funding model based on fairness, equality of access and crucially, upping standards and quality within the entire sector.
We have one opportunity to get this right.
I look forward to hearing, after a year of dithering, the detail of the Minister’s proposals because, on this issue, I’m all ears.
If Batt O’Keeffe moves in the direction I have outlined, I would be minded to take a constructive and supportive position on this crucial issue. Nothing is more important in charting the future of higher education in Ireland. Important for our economy and important for our students.
Brian Hayes is Fine Gael spokesman on education