Artificial Intelligence

169. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the steps that are being taken to ensure higher education institutions equip students with the skills required for the increasing adoption of AI and emerging technologies across sectors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [77686/26]

This is an area I have a very strong interest in and I have given significant attention to because it is an area that is becoming more pertinent every day. The Department, Deputy Harkin, myself and the Government more widely are committed to ensuring that students have the skills that they need as artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies become more widely used across our economy and society. The Higher Education Authority is supporting this already through national guidance and targeted investment. It published a national policy framework on generative AI in December 2025, which sets out a common basis across higher education and a set of guidelines around things like AI literacy, academic integrity, transparency, inclusion, and the responsible use of AI. It includes, for example, a scenario such as more interrogation of students' answers by inviting a student to present on how they reached their conclusion rather than just putting out the answer, or by having an old-fashioned oral exam where a student is tested on their answers and knowledge in a more communicative way rather than just handing in an assignment and considering the job done. There are different ways we can test and assess in an AI world. I was struck by something when listening to, I believe, Professor Robin Cooke, who recently started in UCD heading up its new AI institute. I attended an event to launch the institute. I was listening to him speak on this. He said that the student knew that they might be able to send a robot to the gym but the student would not get any stronger or fitter, and that we had to give a little bit of trust to the students as well. They can try to game the process, but if they want to have skills for life when they come out of college, which is the entire reason they are going, they really need to engage with it. That is an interesting perspective. There are a number of other initiatives, including the strategic alignment of teaching and learning enhancement, SATLE, fund, through which €29.1 million is allocated. There are many other initiatives I will come back to in my next round.

The Minister has always been an advocate of the teaching of transferable skills. Disciplines should be broad and look to provide students with the skills that can place them into different workplaces where they can use those skills. AI is one of those skills now. We must make sure that across disciplines, all learning institutions, subjects and topics, we advise and make people aware of how to use AI. I am struck by the example that the Minister gave and the importance of the assessment of learning - not just the final outcome, but how we got to that point. It is important. It seems that, in a whole-of-government approach, but particularly in this Department, we are bearing in mind how important this is and trying to ensure that we equip students for its use into the future.

We have multiple courses being rolled out already through Springboard+, Skillnet Ireland, SOLAS, AI Ready and many more, as well as the SATLE fund that I mentioned, which is specifically for higher education institutes. To make Members and anyone else who may be following the debate aware, there is a set of AI fluency courses for educators on a platform called opencourses.ie. That is currently offering courses to people in the education space to equip them with the knowledge and familiarity that they need. There is a new 25-hour course that will open in January 2027 to help staff design assessments that are effective and protect academic integrity in that AI environment. Members may wish to bring that to the attention through any correspondence they have on the issue. It is a useful course that educators may wish to avail of. I am also monitoring and encouraging developments within universities. I noticed recently that Technological University Dublin rolled out the artificial intelligence driving licence, which covers things like AI literacy, ethical usage and the critical evaluation of AI tools.

It is all very innovative. I have to compliment the Minister and the institutions on their innovation in this sphere. There are also the concerns around AI's use, and the Minister has noted those. We have to make sure that when people become proficient with its use, it is used for good reason and has positive outcomes. That is a crucial role of the third level sector. In fact, it is a crucial role of the entire education sector that students of today are advised that this is a tool we want to make the best use of and limit the opportunity for it to have a negative influence on society. There is a crucial role for schools and institutions in that.

I want to correct the record. The person from UCD I mentioned is Professor Robin Burke, not Robin Cooke. I have met him. He has come to us from Colorado and we are very lucky to have him in this jurisdiction. Deputy Connolly made a point at the outset about transversal skills and skills that are applicable in many scenarios. When I have been holding round-table events with industry, employers and training providers, I have been struck that one of the overarching themes that has emerged is the need for transversal skills for students, employees and, indeed, all of us to be able to communicate and collaborate and to analyse a piece of information. We have the world at our fingertips now on our phones and other devices. There is such a big knowledge base out there. but being able to critically assess that knowledge, to make an instinctive, intuitive reaction to it, and to process it with our own lens is a skill that goes well beyond the knowledge base and is something that we need to acquire as humans, and that is evermore prevalent in the age of digitalisation.