There will be an emphasis in twinning colleges from the South and the North of Ireland in an effort to promote a better understanding and to promote community relations in general. Costings will be put together and these will be included in USI s pre-budget submission. With the increasing number of ethnically different groups taking up residence in Ireland, there is, of course, a knock on effect on the number of ethnically different groups attending our colleges. USI would hope to be proactive in this respect instead of reactive and try to set up measures in each college to deal with problems of a racist type in the future. An information campaign to combat racism of all types in college will be run after Christmas.
Mature students are grossly under-represented in Irish third level education.
USI will continue to push for greater access for mature students and greater financial support for mature students from disadvantaged backgrounds and those with extra responsibilities. We will also lobby to ensure that when a mature student returns to education they are means tested on their own income and not that of their parents regardless of residence. As more and more mature students are attending college, there is a need to bring them into student life. Something that hasn t being looked into in a number of years is the role of the chaplains in the colleges. USI this year will be researching their ever increasing role in student life and the whole area of access to religion.