One crucial issue facing Irish higher education over the next while will be institutional diversity. Broadly the question goes like this: we are a small country, so why do we need seven universities that cover more or less the same territory, and a dozen or so institutes with the same mission, and some other colleges? Why not identify a specialism for each and then ensure they are the best they could be in that area? Or maybe, why not identify one or two all-rounder institutions, with everyone else occupying a niche? At one level this direction could only be travelled if we were to have a wholly dirigiste system of national strategic management of the sector. If we were to specialise in this way, someone would have to direct this process, because it is unlikely that bilateral or... Similar posts

I have, over recent months, from time to time expressed some concern as to whether Ireland has a clear policy on investing in higher education. I still have major concerns in that regard, not least because there is every indication that universities and colleges may suffer another significant budget cut later this year, making it almost impossible to argue that we are still providing a quality education for students. But it would be wrong not to acknowledge that, in certain areas of capital investment, the government is getting it right. First, there was the announcement some days ago of the new investment in research through the 5th Cycle of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), which indicated a strong national commitment to a high value economy and a knowledge... Similar posts

In an unusual step, the British government has awarded a private, for-profit, institution university level status with its own degree awarding powers. BPP College for Professional Studies, a private London-based college with courses mainly in business and law, will now be called BPP University College. The government may be trying this out as a test case, in anticipation of its apparent policy to have more private institutions involved in higher education. Perhaps anticipating some criticism of this step, BPP’a Director of MBA programmes has defended the College’s approach to teaching, quality assurance and student support. She also declared herself to be happy with the description of BPP as a ‘sausage factory’. Focusing directly on the students, she argued, and... Similar posts

Every year the US journal Chronicle of Higher Education carries out a survey designed to establish which US higher education institutions are best to work for. This year 43,000 staff were surveyed, with a response rate of just under 50 per cent. The questions asked ranged from the extent to which senior university leaders took employee well-being seriously, to questions about the work-life balance. On the positive side overall, the survey found that even during these more difficult times most higher education faculty and staff enjoy their jobs and are proud to work for their institutions. On the other hand, may indicated they were suffering from stress and could not identify much in the way of a work-life balance. One other (for me) surprising finding is that university staff can be... Similar posts

It is good to see that the UK journal Times Higher Education has given some space to a report on the most recent round of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI). Right now Ireland’s reputation for investing in research and R&D is the key factor determining our attractiveness for high value international investment. When the government decided to ‘pause’ investment in PRTLI in 2003 the impact was immediate and severe, as some global companies concluded that Ireland did not have a clear strategy on the knowledge economy and was therefore not a good place in which to invest. Being consistent now at this point, particularly against the backdrop of serious public finance problems, is vital, and both the fact of the investment and its proposed scale... Similar posts

Over the past few days there has been a little debate in the pages of the Irish Independent about the CAO points system. Briefly, for those not familiar with the Irish education system, the CAO is the clearing house for university and college entry, and the points which represent a student’s currency as an applicant are based on his or her performance in the final secondary school examination, the Leaving Certificate. At the end of a report on Friday in the paper on the MacGill summer school, the Independent‘s education correspondent Katherine Donnelly made the following comment: ‘One of the problems with tinkering with the points system is that, while it may be brutal, it is fair – and it’s the devil everybody knows.’ On Saturday, this drew a response... Similar posts

When it comes to Irish higher education, is the glass half full or is it half empty? Are we in crisis, or do we have another important opportunity to demonstrate that we can do so much more with so little? The problem really is that, as a sector and indeed as a country, we don’t know how to answer this. And this fact has come through loud and clear in a report on Ireland in the US Chronicle of Higher Education. The report features quotes from some key figures in Irish higher education (including the IUA’s Ned Costello), and you can immediately sense the problems they had in characterising where we are now. Yes, we have achieved much, and even in good times we achieved it with far fewer resources than our international competitors; and yes, we will probably do much better than... Similar posts

In this era of exponential cuts in higher education, expect to see more of this sort of thing: Texas A&M University* has decided, as part of its quest to save money in the face of budget cuts, to stop supplying free toilet paper to student residences. This will save it some $80,000 – but the actual sum it has to find is a staggering $80 million. In that context, no amount of thrift in the bathroom will contribute much to plugging the funding hole. But this story sums up the quandary in which universities in a number of countries now fund themselves: how to respond to major reductions in public funding at very short notice. Furthermore, universities notoriously spend a very large percentage of their income on salaries, and a good deal of that expenditure cannot easily be cut at... Similar posts

One of the themes of the ten years of my presidency of DCU has been the strategic review of higher education nationally. The first exercise of this kind was conducted on behalf of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the (then) Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU, now the IUA) by Professor Malcolm Skilbeck; this was a review of trends and developments internationally and their significance for Irish higher education. This was followed by a review carried out by the OECD at the request of the then Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey TD. The very substantial report, written by a highly prestigious group of international experts, was published in 2004 and contained a large number of recommendations. No action of any kind was taken to consider the findings and implement the... Similar posts

In his song ‘Let me entertain you’, the singer Robbie Williams suggests that his audience is ‘tired of teachers’ and that ‘school’s a drag’; his remedy is to invite them to be entertained. And of course, entertainment is the idiom of the age, the platform from which a good deal of communication (of even quite serious matters) is disseminated. Entertainment is no longer just diversion from the serious business of life, it is the mainstream. So it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that an analysis of the qualities that English students seek in their lecturers has revealed that ‘edutainment’ comes high on the list: higher than care for students, and assessment and feedback (though not as high as ‘great teaching’).... Similar posts

It appears that major changes are about to be introduced to the English higher education system. The UK’s Secretary of States for Business and Skills, Vince Cable, has set out a number of policy options in a major speech. These include replacing tuition fees with a graduate tax (and thereby restoring the state’s role as the sole funder at the point of entry), the possible growth of private universities and the development of two-year degree programmes. Whether these are attractive options is another matter, but his comments should at any rate stimulate a major debate around higher education. What is needed in this debate – in Ireland as in Britain – is a coherent concept of what kind of higher education we now want. It is not enough to highlight certain changes or... Similar posts

Earlier this year I wrote a post for this blog in which I wondered whether continuous assessment as the principal form of evaluating student performance could be sustained, given budgetary constraints and the problems of plagiarism. But even as I was thinking such thoughts, elsewhere the opposite trend was being mooted: in Harvard University (according to Harvard Magazine) the Faculty of Arts and Sciences has adopted a motion that provides that unless the lecturer declares otherwise well in advance, courses will no longer have end-of-term exams. The current position in Harvard is that only 258 out of 1,137 courses still have any final exams, and it is likely that this number will now drop much further. So what are we to conclude?  Probably that the whole framework of assessing academic... Similar posts

Here’s something I have been saying for a while: if we present international student recruitment primarily (or possibly even at all) as an export-led, money-making activity, we won’t be very successful at it. Over the past couple of years Australia’s reputation as a destination for international students has been compromised somewhat because of the perception that it’s all about securing money for higher education. Now a similar point is being made in the UK, as reported in Times Higher Education. Sir Drummond Bone, former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Liverpool, is reported as issuing the following warning: ‘UK universities are universally seen overseas as money hungry and not terribly good partners, and we have got to … break that. One way to... Similar posts

Yesterday’s Sunday Independent newspaper contained an opinion piece by Marc Coleman under the heading ‘Highest-paid academics of Europe get yet another rise’. Actually, if you Google the name Marc Coleman you’ll get a choice of either a ‘mixed martial arts fighter’, or a self-styled ‘media economist, author and event speaker.’ I’d like to think that this piece was by the kung fu guy, but I have a hunch it was the event speaker. So I think our Marc Coleman here is the economics editor of radio station Newstalk, who also has a regular newspaper column. In this particular piece Coleman delivers himself of some astoundingly facile comments on the French Revolution (à propos of pretty well nothing), before settling in to a theme he has... Similar posts

Funding the latest Cycle of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) is one of the key elements in the Irish government’s plan for a ‘smart economy’, and in that context it may be that some commentators will look for direct links between the subject areas of the research and the country’s current problems and issues. Or else, it may be that the projects and plans will be analysed to see how many jobs they will create; at the launch of PRTLI the Taoiseach made references to the construction and researcher jobs that may flow from the funding (always something of a hostage to fortune). In fact, the subject areas selected focus in particular on medical and health research, and virtually all institutions that have been successful in their bids have... Similar posts

All credit to the government, and to the Taoiseach and the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation in particular: this is a very significant investment in the state’s R&D capacity. Details can be found here. The total investment in this cycle is going to be €358,729,000. In the context of the current economic climate, this is a courageous and entirely correct policy decision. Also to be welcomed is the fact that around €260m of that will be capital investment, which is where the most urgent needs are now to be found. As this morning’s report in the Irish Times indicated, the biggest winners are Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin, but most universities received strong support, including DCU: all our key proposals have been supported with... Similar posts

At a workshop last week on the future of the education system held in TCD’s Science Gallery, Intel’s general manager for Ireland, Jim O’Hara, set out what he argued were the main requirements for economc growth: ‘There are four pillars that are needed to succeed in a smart economy. Having the best education system is one (there is a link between education and the wealth of a nation); having a strong research capacity; having a great 21st century digital infrastructure; and having public policy that supports all of that.’ Ireland can potentially score on all of these, but only if we focus properly on what needs to be achieved. Currently Ireland’s education system is in some crisis, and its various components are not delivering what is needed. On the... Similar posts

Later today (Friday, July 16), the Taoiseach (Ireland’s Prime Minister) will announce the results of the latest cycle of the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI). It would be hard to over-state the significance of PRTLI in the development of Ireland’s research infrastructure over the past 12 years or so. Initially prompted and co-funded by philanthropist Chuck Feeney, the PRTLI investment allowed Ireland’s higher education institutions to be properly equipped with buildings and laboratories and to attract world class researchers. It was one of the key factors that led to Irish universities entering the global rankings. It turned us from provincial teaching institutions into places that would attract knowledge-intensive inward investment. Through all... Similar posts