Local president of student movement NUS-USI Adrianne Peltz has expressed concern at the drop in the number of people who are deaf studying at university in Northern Ireland.
Responding to statistics showing a drop in five years of such student from 240 to just 95, she asked for clarification on whether funding has decreased for work towards widening access for deaf people.
She said: “This is a deeply troubling development. To see the number of deaf people studying at university here decrease so significantly over the past five years is extremely worrying.
“Government is supposed to be committed to widening participating and increasing access, and these figures raise many questions.
“It is absolutely crucial that the Minister clarifies whether funding has decreased for work towards widening access to higher education for deaf people.”