Travellers and Roma in higher education supported, as Minister Harris announces rollout of €450,000

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, has today announced the rollout of €450,000 in funding to assist Travellers and Roma students in higher education.

The investment was secured through the Dormant Accounts Funds to ensure that COVID-19 did not widen the already significant gap in higher education between Travellers and the wider population.

Speaking today, Minister Harris said:

The key objectives of the fund will be to:

• ensure the risks associated with COVID-19 do not widen the existing gap in higher education participation by Traveller students
• safeguard progress towards increased higher education participation by Traveller and Roma communities during the pandemic
• support student success and the achievement of National Access Plan targets for Traveller higher education participation
• enable higher education institutions to broaden their reach to assist members of the Roma community
• deliver once-off payments or bursaries to Traveller and Roma students in need of resources
• offer mentoring and mental health support
• improve digital connectivity through purchasing laptops for second-level students
• strengthen pre-entry supports by working with community partners to assist Traveller students and their families in navigating the process from application stage to registration

Dr Alan Wall, Chief Executive of the HEA, added:

The funding measure is in addition to those already in place to support the action plan for increasing Traveller participation in higher education, 2019 to 2021.

The funding will enable the building of an interagency community approach led by higher education institutions (HEIs), in collaboration with local Traveller and Roma organisations. It will have transformative long-term benefits for the Traveller and Roma communities.

The third National Access Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education (2015 – 2021) identifies the target groups that are currently under-represented in higher education, including Irish Travellers. Arising from COVID-19, the department has been concerned that the gains arising from these measures would be lost and as a result actively engaged in ongoing consultation with Traveller representative groups since March 2020.

As part of this engagement, it took part in a Forum on Traveller Transfers into Tertiary Education, with Pavee Point and the National Travellers Women Forum, in 2020 and 2021. To make a meaningful difference, dormant accounts funding has been ring-fenced for HEIs for a second year, with an increase in funding, from €300,000 in 2021 to €450,000 in 2022.

The fund will also support the Roma community in 2022. The fund will enable development of an interagency community approach led by HEIs, in collaboration with local traveller organisations. It will support and promote the building of partnerships between HEIs and local and national Traveller and Roma organisations, as well as schools, and all other relevant education and training bodies.