An additional 1,056 additional college places will be available in September, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has said.
He said there will be 60 more places in medicine from September, which will result in over 700 college places for medicine this year, around an 8% increase.
Mr Harris said his department worked with the Department of Health and the Health Service Executive on this plan and by 2025 there will be an extra 200 medicine places in the system.
The minister said there will also be extra places for nursing and architecture this year.
He said there will be annual increases in college places that are targeted to specific high demand and a skills demand for society and the economy.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, the minister said: "I'm very pleased to say that they're in targeted areas and what I mean by that is areas where we as a country, have identified a skills need or where students have identified massive demand."
Minister for Higher Education, Simon Harris has announced an additional 1,056 college places available in September, all in targeted areas of massive demand | Read more: https://t.co/FVWHxGiKqU pic.twitter.com/wohT0MLRWe
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 28, 2022
He said there will be 16 new apprenticeships available in a variety of areas from farm management to horticulture to software solutions architect.
"Last year we saw the highest number of people ever registered to be an apprentice, and this is part of our real push to, I suppose, culturally try and change the landscape here in Ireland to realise that there's lots of different ways of getting a qualification.
"An apprenticeship is an equally valid way."
He said that these are employer led and the State is developing the programme and it is hoped that there will be at least 10,000 new apprenticeships every year by 2025.
From September the Government levy of €200 for post-leaving cert courses will be gone, he said.
He also addressed the €3,000 college registration fee, saying that he thinks it is too high.
Student grants will increase from September and the fees can be paid in installments, which will help with the costs of college and said he hopes that more changes will be announced in the Budget.
He said in advance of the Budget, his department will publish a cost of education paper and that will set out all the options as to how costs can be reduced for students.
"But I'm not going to give you a number today, but what I am going to tell you is I'm unapologetic in the view that the registration fee needs to come down, the student grants need to go up and I'm intensively working on those matters with Government colleagues," he said.
