Investment in higher education and research is a key ingredient for growth in Europe’s knowledge economy. We are working across Europe to help maintain investment in skills. For example, EIB loans are supporting the Hungarian student loan scheme, helping to upgrade research facilities in Irish universities and backing the establishment of research centres in Spain.

Recently, we agreed to lend EUR 100m to the Student Loan Centre in Hungary to fund undergraduate and post-graduate studies. In the last ten years we have lend almost EUR 500m to fund student loans in Hungary, so helping to widen access to a university education.

In Ireland, we helped fund a new biomedical sciences institute at Trinity College Dublin. As well as multi-disciplinary research, the institute will help businesses use new ideas to create commercially successful products. More recently, we lent EUR 90m to University College Dublin to invest in teaching, research and student support facilities.

We have also supported the construction, equipping and commissioning of eight public research centres run by the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in the Spanish capital. This EUR 80m loan promotes scientific research and innovation, focusing especially on commercial applications.