February 17, 2025

cjstudents

News for criminal justice students

New initiative to boost higher education opportunities for people with criminal convictions 

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A new initiative could see people with criminal convictions only having to reveal them when applying to enter higher education if there are restrictions or conditions attached to the conviction, with Minister Simon Harris saying efforts to open up the sector to ex-offenders could be “transformational”.

The minister for higher and further education, research, innovation and science launched the Unlocking Potential project at Maynooth University, which is now also reviewing its own admissions policy with regard to making it easier for people with convictions to enter higher education.

The Unlocking Potential project is building on a previous partnership between Maynooth University and Mountjoy Prison, and is based around a ‘fair admissions toolkit’ for higher education institutions (HEIs), which experts said would help reform the development of admissions policies, practices and supports for prospective and current students with convictions.

The toolkit is online at unlockpotential.ie, but a webinar on the subject also heard that international research indicates that the obstacles currently faced by ex-offenders trying to enter higher education are not only unhelpful but are also unnecessary.

Claire Hamilton, chair of the Unlocking Potential project, said there was a “chilling effect” for ex-offenders in having to disclose their past convictions, and that such disclosure was not required in countries such as Belgium and Demark.

She said there needed to be “a cultural shift and whole of institution approach” regarding the need for support for students with convictions, adding: 

We should recognise these potential students as a resource, and not a burden.

Central to this, she said, was an admissions policy where applicants to non-Garda Vetted Programmes would only be required to disclose their criminal record if they are currently subject to any licence condition or monitoring restriction that could affect their ability to successfully complete their studies.

She said this would mean the majority of applicants with a criminal record not having to disclose details of past convictions.

Prof Hamilton said reasons for this approach included data showing there was no evidence that current policies made campuses safer, and there was the possibility that having to disclose a past conviction may also breach GDPR legislation.

 James Leonard of The Two Norries podcast spoke at the webiner. Picture: Larry Cummins
James Leonard of The Two Norries podcast spoke at the webiner. Picture: Larry Cummins

Maynooth University is planning to now undertake a review of its own convictions policy and Mr Harris said: “I genuinely know that this project has the ability to be transformational.”

He said it was acknowledged that for the majority of prisoners, the highest level of education achieved was the Junior Certificate.

The new Unlocking Potential programme is running alongside a Kickstarter Scholarship Fund, recently established by the Probation Service and supported by the Irish Prison Service and administered by Maynooth University to support those with a criminal justice history to access higher education.

The webinar heard from, among others, James Leonard, co-host of the Two Norries podcast, who said financial support should be extended to part-time programmes as many people with convictions seeking to enter higher education may be mature students with other responsibilities, including children.

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