Simon Harris: Students should know college timetables by next week

Simon Harris, Minister for Higher and Further Education, said universities are committed to mapping out the amount of time students will spend on and off campus by the end of next week. Picture: Julien Behal Photography.

All students should know how much time they will spend on campus this semester by the end of next week, according to the Minister for Higher and Further Education.

Simon Harris told the Dáil that universities committed to letting students know the amount of distance learning expected of their timetables by the middle of this month.

“I expect all students to receive details of their on-site versus off-site learning mix within the first two weeks of September. I’m conscious that obviously we’re through one of them now," he said.

“That is the commitment that universities gave to me.” 

He is aware of a number of institutions offering more flexible accommodation options, he added. 

“I’d be encouraging more of our colleges and universities to do that.” 

Holly Cairns, Social Democrat TD for Cork South-West, raised the issue of students’ timetables as she asked Mr Harris to provide more details about the upcoming semester.

“Overstretched households, budgets, and students can’t afford accommodation that they might not use,” Ms Cairns said.

Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) has told students that all lectures will take place online, with students having very limited access to campus activities.

Ms Cairns said this has given students and their families “certainty” about next semester.

She also asked Mr Harris to consider setting up regional hubs that could be accessed by students in rural areas who may have issues with broadband or encounter difficulties working remotely.

“The campus experience is so important. If the majority of courses do go online and there’s limited access to campuses, smaller, remote campuses could go somewhat towards creating that campus experience.” 

Targeted funding needed from @DeptofFHed for colleges and universities to establish hubs or micro-satellite campuses to enable rural students to complete courses online and funding for students to access existing rural digital hubs. @HollyCairnsTD pic.twitter.com/LRyXOHumEg

— Social Democrats (@SocDems) September 9, 2020

Separately, Mr Harris also confirmed an additional 800 college places will be made available to help ease pressure come Friday when students receive their first round of CAO offers.

Due to record results this year, points for popular courses are expected to increase. However, the full extent of this is not yet known.

These 800 places are in addition to more than 1,200 additional places announced last week to help ease pressure on the most popular courses in areas like health or teaching.

This is in addition to 1,415 additional places in ‘key skills’ areas in engineering and the sciences.

However, Mr Harris also told the Dáil that this is the “outer limits” of the extra places that can be created for this year.

He also repeated his concerns that ring-fencing places for those who deferred their applications to the CAO process until this year may be “legally fraught.” 

Concerns have been raised this week that CAO applicants who are presenting results from previous years may be negatively affected by the grade inflation recorded this year.