100. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if his Department will create a centralised third level information hub for students. [37814/25]

Sentiment score: 0.19

I thank both Minister and Minister of State for being with us here tonight. Does the Minister have plans to create a centralised third level information hub for students?

Sentiment score: 0.32

As the Minister is aware in the programme for Government outlines plans to create a single application portal for further and third level education. I would have thought that a first step in that is to create an information hub. The Minister correctly identified four different websites that people have to try to go through. It is quite challenging for young people to navigate all of this, particularly if they do not really know what they want to do. Asking them to navigate through these, even with the support of a career guidance person, can be quite challenging. It would be quite useful to have information on grants, application forms and other supports that are out there. The Minister mentioned earlier that people are not fully availing of the grants. This again indicates an information gap and there is certainly a complexity issue around that. I recently talked to a parent who highlighted that they looked at some of these application forms and they basically stepped back and said they needed a bit more time to think about it. There is a real opportunity for us to simplify things and enable more people to continue their education journey.

Sentiment score: 0.31

I welcome that the Minister is trying to understand the behaviours. One of the potential problems of the CAO system is that it is easy. Students fill in their top choices and then they are done. They may not be considering the other options because they are much more difficult to navigate. I will give a specific example. Only about 12% or 14% of students study accounting at leaving cert but there may be many more who have an interest in it. They can do an accounting technician apprenticeship, they can go to college and study, or they can do the 12-week pathways course. However, if they have an interest in accounting this will not be presented to them in one place. Therefore, it is quite likely they may pick the wrong one which actually does not suit them. Somebody with the potential to become a full accountant may start their journey the wrong way and thus a more suitable path ends up closed off for them.

Sentiment score: 0.04