Colleges and third-level institutions are being asked to present proposals to Government on how they intend to improve access for students with intellectual disabilities.
Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has announced €9 million over the next three years to be made available to fund projects to support inclusion and diversity.
This is on top of an initial €3m to be made available immediately to make campuses more friendly for students with autism, through creating more sensory rooms and quiet spaces, as well as training and awareness programmes for staff and students.
Announcing a new Access Programme for people with autism and intellectual disabilities, Mr Harris said funding is being made available immediately to improve campuses from September.
This will be used to fund "technology to teach people in a different way," he said. A good example of how the money will be used, he said, is for the Path Finder App, which he said is equivalent to Google Maps and "can help students to navigate their way around a campus if they feel overwhelmed".
This, along with the development of more sensory rooms and quiet spaces "will really make the college experience more inclusive and significantly increase the chances of an autistic student thriving in third level," he said.
A second phase of funding will involve €3m per year for the next three years to be made to colleges who propose ways of making their institutions more inclusive to students with intellectual disabilities.
"So, the message to universities and colleges is to come forward with your ideas as to how you can help ensure people with intellectual disabilities can access third level education and indeed can thrive in third level education," Mr Harris said.
He said there are a lot of examples of good practices around the country, but that some universities have told the Government that if they had more resources they could improve services: "I'm hoping a good outcome to this would be to have more applications in than money we have to fund, and then we will find the money," he said.
The minister was speaking in Trinity College where he visited the SciFest exhibition displaying the projects of students who have just completed a certificate in Science, Arts and Inclusive Applied Practice, run by the Trinity Centre for People with Intellectual Disabilities.
Among those students was Bobby Dolan, who completed a project on The Strength of Memory. He hopes to start an internship, and said his experience in Trinity has been very beneficial.
"At first I was kind of nervous coming into it, because I have been in college before, but being in a college like this would be a first-time thing."
"Getting to meet loads of people, becoming friends with them and the work and classes as well made it very interesting. The support was really good because if you ever needed anything to help you out, even if you have this small disability, they are there for you," he said.
Another Student, Sean Byrne, presented his project on the Art of Flexibility, said: "It has been an amazing two years, even though our first year was online it was still very beneficial. I learned a lot not just about the course but about myself. I made lots of great friends, lots of great memories."
Lia Gogarty completed her project on poetry, which she said was her favourite subject: "It's good for the mind and soul, and I love it because I feel so relaxed by writing poetry," she said.
