The Higher Education Authority (HEA) will continue to work with Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) to try to reduce its annual budget deficit, the Education Minister has said.
Speaking in Dáil Éireann, Richard Bruton hinted that a review later this year of how higher education is funded might be beneficial to GMIT, but he did not commit any additional resources to help bridge the college’s deficit.
Minister Bruton, in response to Fianna Fáil Mayo TD, Lisa Chambers, acknowledged that GMIT is “vulnerable” financially but it is working through its difficulties.
He said GMIT’s plan to return its finances to the black involves job cuts, new courses and improvements in retention rates.
Deputy Chambers had asked if the Department of Education was willing to allocate more funding to GMIT given that the latest figures showed it carried a deficit of €2.46 million in 2014-2015.
Minister Bruton said the HEA allocates funding to institutes, who then allocate it internally.
“GMIT is entitled to core funding in the same manner as any institute of technology,” he said.
“Core funding is driven primarily by student numbers, either via a free fees contribution or the Recurrent Grant Allocation Model (RGAM) which is the mechanism used by the HEA to allocation funding. The HEA has no scope to allocate additional funding to any higher education institute beyond that level derived from the free fees and RGAM allocations.
“A review of the approach to funding higher education institutions is to be undertaken by the HEA later in 2016 and this will consider whether additional considerations need to be taken into account within the funding model, such as regional role or contribution or the operation of multiple campuses.”
Acknowledging a deficit of €2.46 million for 2014/2015, Minister Bruton said: “the current reserves held by GMIT total €5.6m but this has been significantly depleted by the deficit.”
Minister Bruton added: “The HEA are closely monitoring the financial position of all of the Institutes of Technology (IoTs) and in particular are working closely with those operating in deficit, including GMIT, to ensure appropriate mechanisms are put in place to eliminate the deficit as quickly as possible.
“In particular, the HEA has a policy framework in place for engaging with vulnerable IoTs like GMIT, which requires institutes to submit a three-year plan to return them to a balanced budget situation.
“GMIT has presented the HEA with their three-year plan which shows a gradual decreasing of the deficit in 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 with a return to surplus projected in 2017/2018. The plan makes it clear that this will be dependent on a successful retention strategy, reductions in staffing and new programme development to increase student demand. The HEA will continue to monitor the position and work with GMIT to address the deficit issue.”
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