Debate contribution: Reducing Barriers to All-Ireland Student Mobility

Debate contribution by Mr Nick Mathison on 28 April 2025.

MLA

Mr Nick Mathison

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

28 April 2025

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Reducing Barriers to All-Ireland Student Mobility

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 4914114

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Thank you, Principal Deputy Speaker. I rise to wind up the debate on the Alliance amendment to the motion. I do not need to reflect in too much detail the points of the debate, as I think that there has been broad agreement across the House, maybe with slightly different emphases. There seemed to be agreement that a more equitable system that promotes student mobility across the island of Ireland is to be welcomed, promoted and encouraged. It is a positive outworking of the debate that we have cross-party consensus on that. I welcome in particular the junior Minister's comments that, while some progress has been made, it is not a level playing field currently and that work needs to be done on the admissions process at the CAO. My colleague David Honeyford set out the issues clearly from the Alliance Party perspective. He set out the benefits of the promotion of student mobility across the island. I will do my best not to rehearse any of his comments verbatim, but I may struggle and end up repeating some of what he said. Essentially, Alliance fully supports a higher education ecosystem across the island that promotes equality of access to institutions and to opportunities across the island. It is clear from the debate that we are all aware that unfair obstacles remain for many students in Northern Ireland. That is why we tabled the amendment. While we acknowledge that progress has been made and want to recognise the value of equitable access to higher education across the island, we want to be clear that a substantial amount of work is still to be done to create a level playing field for students in Northern Ireland. It bears mention that, while the motion references the Education Minister, who undoubtedly has a role in this, the lack of reference to the Economy Minister in the motion seemed to be a glaring omission. If we are going to have a higher education system on the island that truly offers equality of access, North and South, the Economy Minister and her Southern counterpart will need to engage meaningfully to address the outstanding issues. I hope that our amendment brings that Economy focus in. Many of the Members who contributed to the debate sit on the Economy Committee, which, maybe, speaks to where some of the focus on the motion sits. I do not want to rehearse all of the issues that have been discussed, but it is important to re-emphasise some of the barriers that exist for our students in Northern Ireland. I will focus on one in particular, which is the recent change that means that A-level candidates no longer need to achieve four A* grades, including an A* in maths, further maths or pure maths. While that is progress, as many have said, students still need to achieve top grades in three A levels in combination with a fourth A level or AS level, with one of those subjects still being maths, to get the maximum 625 points. That is simply not a level playing field, and David Honeyford set that out clearly from his family experience. I really urge the Economy Minister to take that forward, as well as all of the other issues that we have highlighted on which there is not genuine equity at the minute, with her counterpart in the South. I will leave my comments at that point. We are clear about the issues, and we are clear about where the disparities sit. We are clear about where CAO and UCAS need to work better together, particularly on admissions timelines. The idea that, just because you may want to study in Trinity or Cork or Galway, you are compelled to defer your entry to give yourself some certainty is not a fair scenario for our students. Undoubtedly, there is a role for the Education Minister. It would have been good to hear from him today, and perhaps the Education Committee can pick up on this at its meeting this week. It would be really welcome to know what the Education Minister will do in the space around certainty and assurances that information will be communicated clearly to students in all schools around Northern Ireland on the changes that have already been made and on any future changes to the admissions process. I welcome the fact that there has been support across the House for our amendment.

The appetite for the promotion of student mobility across the island is welcome. Ultimately, it would benefit students, North and South. That is something that we all should be able to support today. Thank you.

774 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 12:28 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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