Learning across the border
Education policy was traditionally developed in isolation on both sides of the border but new links are now being explored.
Cross-border work on education and skills is stepping up after decades of limited progress. In Northern Ireland, the Department of Education is responsible for schools while the Department for Employment and Learning covers further and higher education, training and workplace skills. The Department of Education and Skills oversees the whole remit in the Republic.
The education sector of the North/South Ministerial Council resumed work in November 2007. Most of its early meetings acknowledged and welcomed work that was already being done by officials.
A standard agenda covered special educational needs, teaching qualifications, pension rights, under-achievement, and youth and teacher exchanges. Some tangible achievements had appeared by early 2011 e.g. all-island initiatives to promote pupils’ interest in reading and maths.
One other item was added when the education survey for the border region was announced in February 2012. The survey was conducted in the autumn of that year.
A joint study on North/South co-operation in education was then commissioned by ministers Ruairí Quinn and John O’Dowd in the following February and discussed in detail in November 2013. The ministers agreed to prioritise projects in three areas:
• joint inspection reports on literacy and numeracy;
• educational underachievement and disadvantage; and
• best practice in school leadership.
School inspectors are also due to bring forward their own plans for closer co-operation at the next meeting in April 2014.
Stephen Farry has worked directly with his counterparts in the South. This follows on from similar bilateral co-operation started by UUP and SDLP ministers.
“In these challenging times, it is important that neither the new Irish Government nor the forthcoming Executive in Northern Ireland become inward-looking,” Farry said after the Irish general election in 2011.
“Rather, Alliance believes that there are significant efficiencies and economies of scale can be found through enhanced North/South co-operation. This need not require new institutions and should happen irrespective of political and constitutional aspirations.”
The All-Island Research Base programme supported 12 major R&D projects between 2008 and 2011. Ministers see joint research projects as effective ways to attract EU funds under the Horizon 2020 programme. Much of this work takes place through Universities Ireland.
Student flows are mainly from south to north. A Centre for Cross-Border Studies report considered the flows of full-time higher education students in 2009-2010: 960 of these students from the Republic were enrolled in the North compared to 675 northerners in the South.
Further education statistics are not as extensive but they do indicate that around 4,000 students from the South study in the North, mostly in Derry. The flow of northern students to southern colleges is negligible. In one college near the border, there are reportedly more students from Brazil than from Northern Ireland.
Most undergraduates in the Republic do not have to pay tuition fees. These are paid by the state but the students still have to make a contribution (currently up to €2,500) to cover the costs of student services and exams. This policy applies to all students from EU member states.
Maximum tuition fees in Northern Ireland are the same for any student from the island of Ireland (£3,575) but up to £9,000 for those from Great Britain.
