Almost two thirds of student grants have been paid so far this year, the central awarding body has said.

Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) said it has paid grants to 39,000 students and expects to award a total of 60,000 this year.

The figures released by the body today are a vast improvement on this time last year when just 6,000 students had been told they had been awarded a grant.

Susi endured months of criticism in its inaugural year due to serious failures in the systems set up to pay student grants.

Susi was introduced to streamline student payments which formerly came from dozens of bodies, including county councils and VECs. All of the awarding bodies transferred this responsibility to Susi last year, but the computer system and the procedures for applying for grants failed to perform .

The body said in a statement today that improvements to its system mean it has been running “more efficiently and on schedule” .

About half of the 40,000 first time applicants expected to receive a grant have been paid. The remaining 19,000 payment recipients are renewals.

The a further 3,000 students who have been informed that they will receive a grant as soon as their colleges confirm they are registered and when the students provide bank details, it said.

All students who met its deadlines and submitted the required document have been awarded their grants within its three month deadline starting on August 5th, it said.

Susi said it is still processing applications which came in after its priority deadlines. The progress of late applications can be followed at grantsonline.ie/eseries/