Ninth Level Ireland

“At least six students were arrested at the 2009 UCD Ball, which took place on Friday, 24th April. A spokesperson for Donnybrook Garda Station confirmed that six students were arrested in the university for public order offences. A number of students were also taken to the Irishtown Garda Station when Donnybrook station reached full capacity as a result of student arrests. Reports of anti-social behaviour included claims of assault, a door in Belgrove being damaged and lecherous behaviour by UCD students. Students Union (SU) President, Aodhán Ó Deá expressed his concern and disappointment at the violent and anti-social behaviour of students at the event and in the areas surrounding the site …” (more)

[Zelda Cunningham, University Observer, 28 April]

“Some of us may think it is the worst of times, but a significant proportion of Ireland’s soon-to-be graduates think otherwise, with high hopes for their futures. With the economy on its knees, one might reasonably expect the final-year students interviewed for The Ireland Graduate Careers Survey 2009 to be a downtrodden bunch – nervous about the future and pessimistic about their prospects. Remarkably, the graduates-to-be of 2009 seem to be taking the doom-laden reality in their stride. The harsh economic realities has done little to dent their inner belief and confidence. Their mantra? Yes, times are hard but things will only get better …” (more)

[Irish Times, 28 April]

“The economic crisis has done little to dent the optimism of Ireland’s college students. By the age of 30, almost one in five expects to be earning at least €100,000 per year, and over 60 per cent expect to own their house or flat. For some 8 per cent of the group that is only the start of the good times. By the age of 30, they also expect to have invested in a ‘buy-to-let’ or holiday property. These surprising findings come in the third annual Irish Times Graduate Survey of more than 3,000 final-year students in our seven universities. Most of those surveyed in February were aged 21 and 22. The overall message from students is that, while times are hard, things will only get better …” (more)

[Sean Flynn, Irish Times, 28 April]

“The massive increase in unemployment that has occurred in the past year has particularly affected the young, especially those who left the education system at an early stage because of the lure of good wages in low-skilled employment, particularly in the building industry. As a result of the recent Budget, these unemployed young people have now experienced a major cut in their benefits following a 50 per cent reduction of the Jobseekers allowance for the under 20s. The allowance will continue to be paid at the higher rate for those engaged in education and training, however. Hopefully, this initiative, which I support, will encourage unemployed young people to begin to explore the option of a return to education …” (more)

[Brian Mooney, Irish Times, 28 April]

“The question ‘What are the humanities for?’ needn’t be asked in a voice that insinuates the true answer is a humiliating admission: ‘Not much, really.’ It can and should be asked with a sincere desire for illumination. Our overview of what the humanities are for will have serious implications for how they are studied, how they are funded and how their success – or failure – is assessed. Kim Carr gave voice to one possible answer in a speech a few months ago on the art of innovation. The Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Minister took the view that the humanities ‘make a terrible mistake when they claim support on the basis of their commercial value. Whatever they may be worth in the marketplace, it is their intrinsic value we should treasure them for. We should support these disciplines because they give us pleasure, knowledge, meaning and inspiration. No other pay-off is required’ …” (more)

[John Armstrong, The Australian, 22 April]

“He’s the man with the biggest pay packet in Irish education – earning €409,000 a year in his role as Vice President of Research at UCD. But some have are questioning Prof Des Fitzgerald’s remuneration package. So what are tax payers getting in return? If salary witch-hunts have become the stock-in-trade of Irish journalism, Freedom of Information requests are the burning torches. The latest to fall foul of FOI are the universities. A request in March smoked out the highest salaries in Irish academia, topped by the €409,000 pay packet of UCD’s Vice President of Reasearch, Prof Des Fitzgerald …” (more)

[Irish Times, 28 April]

“Contenders for two of the biggest jobs in higher education – President of DCU and Provost of TCD – are already jockeying for position. The high-profile DCU president, Prof Ferdinand von Prondzynski, vacates his northside dacha next summer. And low-profile TCD Provost Prof John Hegarty (right) will vacate one of the State’s most exclusive addresses – 1, Grafton St – in 2011. Who’s in the running? At DCU, the contenders are expected to include UCD Vice President Philip Nolan, Colm Kearney of TCD, at least one member of von Prondzynski’s kitchen cabinet and a senior Irish academic currently in London …” (more)

[Irish Times, 28 April]

“… The rate of change in universities today is almost dizzying. So much so, she states, that people hardly realise what is happening. Universities throughout their whole history have been in flux, subjected to conflicting agendas and demands, not only by internal factors, but most characteristically by forces within the wider society. This has become even more the case in our own time. For much of their history universities were bastions of elite education. The classes born to higher knowledge could do much as they pleased. There was little scrutiny or accountability. Academics had freedom to muse endlessly over the meaning of some obscure verse of romantic poetry or yet another piece of Berkeley paraphernalia, often at public expense. This idea of the university came under massive challenge in the 1960s and 1970s …” (more)

[Watchdog on Higher Education in Ireland, 27 April]

“It is well known that Ireland’s university sector would not be where it is in terms of its international standing without the contribution made by philanthropy; in particular, without the very major contribution made so generously by Chuck Feeney through his philanthropic vehicle, Atlantic Philanthropies, and some of the other significant donors from Ireland and overseas. For all that, Ireland still lags far behind the United States in particular in terms of fundraising and donations. Some Irish universities are only just beginning to tap the potential of their alumni, and indeed it is important that relations with alumni are built up in a broader and more mutual context than just fundraising …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 27 April]

“University employers offered staff a 0.3% pay rise today but union officials say they will still go ahead with plans to ballot for strike action over job losses. Union leaders have called for an 8% rise in pay next year but in response the University and College Employers Association (UCEA) offered what it called a ‘realistic, responsible and credible’ figure of 0.3% at today’s second official meeting to set the 2009-10 wage levels. UCEA said the offer would be in addition to incremental payments of 3% that most higher education staff would receive and the decision was made after consulting institutions facing an ‘exceptionally difficult economic climate’ …” (more)

[Anthea Lipsett, Guardian, 27 April]

“English and foreign language departments promote male associate professors to full professors on average at least a year – and in some cases, depending on type of institutions, several years – more speedily than they promote women, according to a study being released today by the Modern Language Association. Over all, the average time for women as associate professor prior to promotion is 8.2 years, compared to 6.6 years for men. The study follows years of complaints by academic women that they are left ‘standing still’ – the title of the report – after they earn tenure, while male colleagues advance. While the finding may not surprise women, some of the survey results may. For example, many women in academe say that departments are insufficiently supportive of those who must balance career and family obligations – and tend to reward those without child care duties. But the MLA found that the time gap on promotion (while varying somewhat in size) was evident for women who are single or married, those with children and without …” (more)

[Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 27 April]

“Universities are wasting money on ‘hugely expensive lawyers and barristers’ even though resources are stretched to the limit across the system, the annual conference of university teachers has been told. Mike Jennings, general secretary of the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT), told the conference over the weekend that human resource departments in the colleges were well resourced but despite this, they were hiring legal experts at huge cost. Mr Jennings said this represented a ‘disgraceful waste of public money at a time when resources are stretched to the limit in the entire university system’ …” (more)

[Sean Flynn, Irish Times, 27 April]

“Papers on this topic usually nod to JH Newman and then comment on how much we’ve advanced with our modern research universities. The original idea of a community of scholars and students is, at best, treated in a patronising fashion. I am going to argue here that the best chance of survival of the university sector in Ireland is going back to this model. The other models include the hybrid system that the examinations board introduced into Ireland in the 1880′s after the failure of Newman’s initiative. It took the scholar/student model, funded it with taxpayers’ money, and gave a sense of professional advancement to the students involved. It worked well -and is in fact the only real accreditation of the Irish universities – until the incoherent 1997 universities act attempted, in self-contradictory fashion, simultaneously to enshrine academic freedom, tenure, and a dictator. A truly creative act would have anticipated John Seely Brown’s framework, in which the admin, academic, and accrediting parts of the university are separated, and tenders accepted for use of the physical infrastructure …” (more)

[Seán O Nualláin, University Blog on Academic Tenure, 26 April]

“Developers with housing estates lying empty in Dublin are set for a huge fillip. Trinity College Dublin (TCD) has circulated a requirement for 1,000 student residential units by September 2010, and possibly as many as 3,500 by 2020. The student residences and associated facilities must be close to the university ‘or near a public transport system facilitating a maximum commute of approximately 30 minutes’, according to documents circulated by the university last week. That means areas as far away as Sandyford and Dun Laoghaire in the south of Dublin and Howth in the north could be considered because of the Luas and the Dart. Large parts of the docklands and Poolbeg would also be suitable. ‘The accommodation may be new purpose-built or existing accommodation, modified if necessary, to satisfy the university’s requirements,’ the documents state. Undeveloped sites will also be considered …” (more)

[An Irish Town Planner's Blog, 26 April]

“University teaching staff are being balloted for industrial action to protect jobs, as they wait to hear their pay offer for next year. The University and College Union says lecturers should not lose their jobs as universities faced financial pressure. The union’s general secretary, Sally Hunt, warned of the threat of a ‘cull of academic jobs’. But university employers said the union was ‘scaremongering’ and the dispute was about pay, not safeguarding jobs …” (more)

[BBC News, 26 April]

“Independent News and Media (INM) chief Tony O’Reilly has asked that a new library at Queen’s University in Belfast should not be named in his honour, as had been planned. The university confirmed that O’Reilly had notified it before Easter that he did not want the library to carry his name. The INM head, who will retire from his position next month, pledged £4 million to the £44 million project five years ago. He personally donated half of the £4 million, and the balance was to be provided by INM and the Ireland Funds, a fundraising vehicle founded by O’Reilly. It was announced in 2007 that the library would be called the Sir Anthony O’Reilly Library …” (more)

[Nicola Cooke, Sunday Business Post, 26 April]

“Professor Tom Begley has plans to build a world-class business school in Ireland, with the expansion of University College Dublin’s schools. The dean of the Quinn School of Business and the Smurfit Graduate Business School believes that now, as they celebrate their centennial year, is the time to do just that. Applications for postgraduate programmes at the schools have jumped 40 per cent this year. The Quinn School, which is based at the Belfield campus, has 2,000 students on various undergraduate programmes while the Smurfit School, based in Blackrock, has 1,360 students, mostly on masters programmes …” (more)

[Sunday Business Post, 26 April]

“Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe has been accused of ‘playing politics’ with third-level students in relation to the reintroduction of third-level fees. The criticism comes after he confirmed that a decision on the measure is now unlikely to be made until after the local and European elections in June. Fine Gael education spokesman Brian Hayes claimed there has been a ‘co-ordinated spinning operation’ in place since before Easter in relation to O’Keeffe’s proposals. ‘I suspect the real reason for this is to do with politics. Middle Ireland has been absolutely lambasted in the budget’, he said. ‘I suspect that other Fianna Fáil politicians decided to row him in a bit until after the locals …’” (more)

[John Downes, Tribune, 26 April]

“ … This process was once started to make academic learning all over Europe more comparable, more reliable, more transparent. For some it was meant as a way to reduce the time young people spend in universities before they enter the labour market. The main goal was to ease mobility across borders, during the studies and between the newly introduced cycles (Bachelor, Master, PhD). Altogether these goals that are worth supporting, and the process could have led to a better situation for student and academics in Europe. But the process, despite the superficial changes to a new structure, has been a failure …” (more)

[Julien Frisch, 26 April]

“You just can’t beat the real thing – particularly if you have hundreds of Trinity students on your side. After years of politically motivated boycotting, the university’s ongoing spat with Coca-Cola has come to an end at the ballot box. Earlier this month, almost one tenth of the Trinity student population turned out to vote in favour of restoring the soft drink to the shelves of student union shops after its ban in February 2004. Some 57% of the 1,254 students who voted did so in favour of returning products to the shelves. The ban also prohibited the university from securing advertising or sponsorship deals with the company …” (more)

[Mark Hilliard, Tribune, 26 April]