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
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Further and Higher Education: Budget Pressures
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5774321
Read the official Assembly record
Text
I thank the Member for her question. I reflect, as would, I am sure, our universities, that it is not a problem of just this year but one that has grown over a number of years, because we have not seen the type of investment that we need in our public services in general. Particularly in our further and higher education institutions, we have seen a kind of flat-cash settlement over a number of years. That creates challenges when there are the types of inflation uplifts that we have seen over recent years. That is a particular problem right now when it comes to the contingency allocations that our institutions are trying to work to. That is why we need to get a Budget settlement. We have seen increased numbers at Magee. We are likely to see an additional increase in this academic year. We await the final numbers in respect of that. We have a focus on expanding the number of students. A plan on how we can do that is in place, and we continue to work to that plan. I am committed to delivering against that, as are, I think, the wider Executive.
196 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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