Access

Access

Providing educational opportunity to students from disadvantaged backgrounds or under-represented groups is a fundamental and long-established objective of the Technological Higher Education sector. Through their open, non-restrictive entry mechanisms, and the ladder system of progression,  THEA’s member institutions have contributed greatly to the delivery of public policy objectives to enhance higher education participation and access. This is  evidenced in the fact that on average nearly 50% of the annual intake of students entering the Institutes of Technology do so through non-traditional routes. All of the Institutes’ have well established access programmes and  access services, information on which is available at the following links: 

A number of the Institutes also participate in the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR) scheme, and the Disability Access Route to Education (DARE) scheme. 

THEA and its member institutions work collaboratively with the Department of Education and Skills’ Equity of Access section and the National Office for Equity of Access  in the Higher Education Authority  in areas such as the provision of financial support to students and the implementation of the National Plan for Equity of Access to Higher Education 2015-2019.