To ask the Minister for the Economy, given that the Scottish government has recently created a £5 million fund to address digital poverty in colleges and universities, and the ROI government has announced that 17,000 laptops will be made available for third level students, what her plans are to address the digital divide in Further Education and Higher Education in the new academic year.

I fully recognise the importance of alleviating digital poverty among further and higher education students, especially given the importance of online teaching in our current situation.

With 42% of FE learners in Northern Ireland coming from the two lowest deprivation quintiles, digital poverty is a real issue for learners in FE colleges. Following on from the additional £1.078m which I secured during the initial lockdown period to support colleges to purchase laptops, related equipment and software for financially vulnerable learners, I have now secured and allocated a further £2.1 million to the FE colleges to provide staff and students with the necessary equipment in the 2020/21 academic year.

Alongside this, FE colleges are working together to develop a shared best practice approach which will help learners to build up their skills and confidence in the online environment, and to ensure they have access to the best possible online learning experience. This approach will also be informed by the findings from a survey which is due to take place in December 2020 to capture the experience of learners in both online and on-site provision.

In relation to higher education, my Department already provides a non-repayable maintenance grant to students from lower income households, which can be used to purchase the necessary IT equipment to complete their course. As well as this grant, the universities have a range of measures in place to help reduce digital poverty among their students.

For example, Ulster University provides access bursaries to students from families on income support; students can decide how to spend the bursaries themselves, including on technology. Ulster University also uses the Department’s Widening Access Funds to stock its libraries with laptops, for students from a widening access background to use on a loan basis. Ulster University has also created a Technology Support Fund, whereby the university procures and provides securely imaged laptops for its most disadvantaged students, to enable them to adapt to teaching and learning in the hybrid, dual teaching mode envisaged for the 2020/21 academic year. The university has committed to supplying 1,000 laptops free to students who meet the eligibility criteria.

Queen’s University has recently introduced a long-term laptop loan scheme, with no loan or hire fees to the student, to enable and support students who may be unable to access the relevant equipment to study online due to financial hardship, digital exclusion, or circumstances specifically related to Covid-19. Queen’s is also seeking to ensure that students will have access to digital resources on-site, for example in the library, where public health regulations permit.

Students at Stranmillis University College have ready access to significant IT equipment and infrastructure across its campus, including a number of dedicated IT rooms. IT facilities are also available in the University College’s library.

As well as being able to access on-campus IT equipment, students at St Mary’s University College can borrow laptops from the institution, if needed.