My Department's policy focus, working in partnership with the Department of Health, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, the Department of Education and Youth, the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Higher Education Authority and higher education institutions, has been to expand educational capacity in priority healthcare and veterinary disciplines in order to meet growing student demand and national workforce needs.
Significant progress has been made in recent years in increasing the number of places available across a range of healthcare programmes. This includes the implementation of the 2022 Medicine Expansion Agreement, under which 200 additional Irish/EU medicine places are being introduced on a phased basis, together with additional opportunities for Irish students to study medicine in Northern Ireland. The Government has also supported substantial growth in student places in dentistry, pharmacy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech and language therapy, nursing and other health and social care professions. These measures are contributing to a larger pipeline of graduates to support health service requirements.
More broadly, higher education institutions have expanded capacity in response to increasing student demand arising from demographic growth and rising participation in higher education. Further expansion is planned across the sector as larger school-leaver cohorts continue to progress to third-level education.
The admission and recruitment of students is a matter for individual higher education institutions, which are autonomous bodies under the Universities Act 1997 and the Technological Universities Act 2018. Institutions are responsible for their admissions policies and student recruitment strategies, within the relevant legislative and regulatory framework.
International students make an important contribution to Ireland's higher education system, enriching the academic environment, strengthening international engagement and supporting research and institutional development and operations. Government policy has therefore focused on increasing overall educational capacity, particularly in strategically important healthcare disciplines, to ensure that growing demand can be accommodated and workforce objectives are addressed.
