Debate contribution: Further and Higher Education: Budget Pressures
Debate contribution by Dr Caoimhe Archibald on .
- MLA
- Dr Caoimhe Archibald
- Party at the time
- Sinn Féin
- Date
- 5 October 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution (made as a minister)
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Further and Higher Education: Budget Pressures
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5774301
Read the official Assembly record
Text
Mr Speaker, with your permission, I will answer questions 1 and 13 together. I recognise the vital role that further education colleges and higher education institutions play in supporting our economy, developing skills and promoting regional balance. Ulster University has commenced a process inviting applications under a voluntary redundancy scheme. I appreciate that it is a worrying and uncertain time for staff. My Department continues to engage with the university, and I encourage the university to continue its constructive engagement with trade unions. I hope that any compulsory redundancies will be avoided, as was the case in the further education sector two years ago. Since taking up my role, I have sought to prioritise funding for skills, specifically for our further and higher education institutions, including successfully advocating for in-year funding for both sectors. I have allocated an additional £400,000 each to St Mary's University College and Stranmillis University College. I have increased the further education budget envelope each year to facilitate a 19·7% pay increase for lecturers over the past three years in recognition of their valued contribution to upskilling across the region. I strongly support Ulster University's delivery of higher education in Derry, Belfast and Coleraine, which contributes to regional balance. Since the return of the Executive, the university has reported an approximate increase in student numbers of 22% at Magee and 12% at Coleraine. Whilst I remain committed to securing a sustainable future for our further and higher education sectors, both sectors are facing pressures as a result of operating within contingency funding allocations, along with an inescapable funding gap. Along with my Executive colleagues, I have consistently highlighted the unsustainable nature of current funding arrangements and continue to press the British Government for a fair and sustainable funding settlement that protects public services and supports economic development, including in further and higher education.
307 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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