Ninth Level Ireland

“By any measure the Irish third level sector is in financial crisis and students are being shortchanged. In the near-decade since the recession, Irish universities and institutes of technology have suffered significantly. No Irish university appears in the Times Higher Education top 100, published last month …” (more)

[Tom Felle, Irish Times, 3 November]

“Everyone who has attended a third level institution has heard the same mantra, that the years you spend in university will be ‘the best years of your life’. We are fed a certain image of university life, replete with parties, close friendships, and time spent ‘finding yourself’. Of course, what is never shown is the reality of student life for the vast majority of students …” (more)

[Gavin Tracey, University Observer, 3 November]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has called for immediate publication of the Oireachtas Committee Report on Third-Level Funding and an end to Government dithering on increased resources, following publication of new EU data which effectively removes hiking student fees as a source of extra income for the sector …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 2 November]

“Tens of thousands of public service workers will spend an additional year in the workforce as plans are being advanced to increase the retirement age by one year to 66, the Irish Independent understands. The Government is actively researching the impact of such a move on the public-sector workforce …” (more)

[Kevin Doyle, Independent, 3 November]

“A design consultant will be appointed shortly to start the ball rolling on NUI Galway’s major Nun’s Island masterplan. NUI Galway’s Education Building is located at Nuns Island, and it also owns the adjacent building …” (more)

[Galway Bay FM, 2 November]

“Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) has given a commitment that students will be able to finish an art degree on a West Cork island despite uncertainty over funding for technical support. Sherkin Island Development Society (SIDS) employs four local people to offer administrative help and facilities in support of the course, but had to put them on protective notice a week ago because it could not guarantee the jobs into the future …” (more)

[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 3 November]

“The rules of the dating game are changing. For Trinity College students in Dublin nightclubs, it can help to have a flyer with advice on sexual consent close to hand. It spells out in an easy acronym: FRIES or ‘freely-given, retractable, informed, enthusiastic and specific’ …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien and Jenna Clarke-Molloy, Irish Times, 3 November]

“An Emeritus Professor said forcing people to retire from the public sector at a set age is ‘discriminatory’ and should be made optional as life expectancy increases …” (more)

[Anne Sheridan, Limerick Leader, 2 November]

“Out of 88 chair professors in Trinity, only a quarter are women, according to a new report seen by The University Times. The report revealed that since 2014, there has only been a 9% increase in women being promoted to the top-level position. The Annual Equality Monitoring Report 2016/17 said that only 22 out of 88 chair professors, the highest grade of professor in Trinity, are women …” (more)

[Róisín Power, University Times, 2 November]

“Mary Mitchell O’Connor, TD, Minister of State for Higher Education, today 2nd of November, 2017, launched an online resource to assist higher level institutions to create effective student retention strategies and to enhance student experiences …” (more)

[Teaching and Learning, 2 November]

“A growing sense of middle-class grievance in the UK would make a radical redistribution of top university places a very difficult political sell, says Sir Nigel Thrift …” (more)

[Times Higher Education, 2 November]

“In a press release, reported yesterday by several newspapers including the Irish Independent, NUI Galway trumpeted what they have been doing recently to put right the position of women in the university and other actions for equality. Foremost were the results of the recent promotion round to Senior Lecturer in which 14 men were promoted and 19 women …” (more)

[Micheline’s Three Conditions, 1 November]

“Third-level students in Ireland pay the second highest fees in Europe, according to a new report by the European Commission. While the UK has the highest fees – equivalent to about €10,000 – it is followed by Ireland with fees of €3,000. A crucial difference, however, is that more than 40 per cent of students in Ireland do not have to pay fees as they are entitled to means-tested grants …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 2 November]

“Something is afoot in higher education. A few years ago, in the Rose Garden of 10 Downing St, soon-to-be Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg made supporting income-contingent loan schemes the price of power …” (more)

[Dominic McGrath, University Times, 1 November]

“Dr Vassiliki Papatsiba from the University of Sheffield and Dr Ludovic Highman from the UCL Institute of Education highlight the urgent need for a new partnership in research, science and innovation with the EU if the UK is to retain its status as a leading knowledge economy. The briefing outlines why clarity on the future of the UK’s research relationship with the EU is so necessary …” (more)

[Centre for Global Higher Education, 1 November]

“Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes, Geoff Marcy. From entertainment to academia, accusations of these people’s abuses of power have helped to create a sea change in the numbers of people willing to discuss sexual harassment in the workplace. Much of the conversation has concerned condemnation of harassers and praise for those who come forward to talk about what they have seen and experienced. This puts an interpersonal frame on a systemic problem. Attention must also be paid to systems that allow harassers to thrive …” (more)

[Laurel Issen, Nature, 1 November]

“The metrics used to identify excellence, and on which current tenure and promotion decisions are based, have become a barrier to more exciting and innovative scholarship. Christopher P Long suggests an overhaul of tenure and promotion practices, advocating a holistic approach in which structured mentoring plays a key role and values-based metrics that will empower faculty to tell more textured stories about the impact of their work are developed …” (more)

[Impact of Social Sciences, 1 November]

“A former wrestler at the University of Iowa was arrested last week for his role in a high-tech cheating scheme. The student, Trevor Graves, secretly installed devices called keyloggers onto campus computers and used them to record his professors’ keystrokes. Armed with his instructors’ institutional log-in details, Graves reportedly boosted his grades over 90 times in a 21-month period, in addition to intercepting exam and test questions …” (more)

[Lindsay McKenzie, Inside Higher Ed, 1 November]

“Germany’s latest programme to boost research at its universities and make them more competitive inter­nationally risks missing its goals, according to observers. The Excellence Initiative was launched in 2005 with €4.6 billion (US$5.4 billion) in funding and the aim of creating a handful of elite universities. Researchers across Germany are now preparing for the programme’s next round, dubbed the Excellence Strategy, which starts in 2019 …” (more)

[Quirin Schiermeier, Nature, 1 November]

“Call it a classic case of supply meeting demand. Universities, colleges, even community colleges insist that faculty publish scholarly research, and the more papers the better. Academics and the schools they teach at rely on these publications to bolster their reputations, and with an oversupply of PhDs vying for jobs, careers hang in the balance …” (more)

[Gina Kolata, New York Times, 30 October]