“Credit Unions around the country have reported a marked increase in demand for student loans. Fintan Ryan, manager of Tralee Credit Union, is among those who noted the rise in the amount of enquiries for loans …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 16 August]
“Students staged a protest outside the constituency office of Minister for Enterprise Batt O’Keeffe in Co Cork today to highlight what they described as his ‘inaction’ in tackling graduate unemployment …” (more)
[Olivia Kelleher, Irish Times, 16 August]
“When it comes to higher-level maths for the Leaving Cert Engineers Ireland has found that over 40% of students taking this subject need grinds to tackle the material …” (more)
[Marie Boran, Silicon Republic, 16 August]
“Cutbacks in public financing for higher education are expected to mean that record numbers of British students will fail to secure a place at a university this autumn, and thanks to a computer glitch, for 2,500 students who had applied to the University of Middlesex, the wait has become a whole lot harder …” (more)
[Aisha Labi, Chronicle of Higher Education, 13 August]
“UCC announced today that it has partnered with global company Google for the provision of cloud computing services to its students …” (more)
[UCC Media and Communications, 16 August]
“Belfast is the second most expensive UK city in which to study, an annual student poll suggested today …” (more)
[Belfast Telegraph, 16 August]
“The Leaving Certificate curriculum needs to be recast to reflect the fundamental principles of education and to take account of current best practice internationally, a leading youth organisation has said …” (more)
[Pamela Newenham, Irish Times, 16 August]
“Are we making fewer discoveries than in the past? Can war make us cleverer? The answers lie in scientometrics, the field of research that puts scientists under the microscope …” (more)
[Rob Sharp, Independent, 16 August]
“The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) is staging a demonstration to highlight what it describes as the inaction of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’ Keeffe, in tackling high levels of graduate unemployment …” (more)
[Clare Herald, 16 August]
“The number of European Union universities considered among the 100 best in the world climbed this year, but the United States remains the champion in the realm of academia, utterly dominating the list …” (more)
[Leigh Phillips, EU Observer, 16 August]
“British institutions have made a dismal showing in a Chinese list of the world’s top universities, prompting fears that the ‘biased’ rankings could increase financial woes at British universities …” (more)
[Peter Foster, Daily Telegraph, 16 August]
“Two groups of scientists at Tyndall National Institute in Cork will each receive up to €5m over the next five years for research that could yield new products for the electronics and medical devices industries, according to the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Batt O’Keeffe …” (more)
[Carmel Doyle, Silicon Republic, 13 August]
“In 1999, the Points Commission concluded that the points system, despite its flaws, should be retained on the basis that it considered it the fairest and most transparent way to allocate scarce university places. While this may well have been the most reasonable conclusion at the time, 11 years on there is growing evidence that the points system now needs to be radically revisited …” (more)
[Tom Collins, Independent, 16 August]
“CAO points for most college courses are set to increase this year because of a surge in demand for third-level college places. A tighter jobs market has driven up competition for places, with final CAO figures showing a 4% increase in applications for level 8 or higher degree courses …” (more)
[Sean Flynn, Irish Times, 16 August]
“According to information released recently by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), 10% of those who graduated from Irish higher education institutions with an honours degree in 2008 were unemployed six months later …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 16 August]
“It is hard to know which of the two central findings of an investigation into school life is more disturbing, the fact that children are experiencing unacceptable levels of psychological pressure, or that the final year in school has deteriorated into one, long cramming session …” (more)
[Independent, 16 August]
“What have we learnt since a major ESRI report in 1996 revealed intolerable levels of stress among our Leaving Cert students, especially girls? Not a lot, it seems. The main change is that good grades have become easier to get as teachers and students learn how to play the exam game …” (more)
[John Walshe, Independent, 16 August]
“… I kept my name, he kept his annual fishing trip, and we shared the wedding appliances and the home office. But when it came to entering the job market, we had what’s known in academic parlance as a ‘two-body problem’. Securing two tenure-track jobs anywhere is hard. Finding them close together is nearly impossible …” (more)
[Caroline Bicks, New York Times, 12 August]
“LEAGUE OF IRELAND PREMIER DIVISION: Sligo Rovers 4, UCD 0 A stunning goal by skipper Conor O’Grady three minutes before half time opened the flood gates for Sligo at the Showgrounds on Saturday night …” (more)
[Irish Times, 16 August]
“The race for a college place has begun in earnest, even before the Leaving Cert results are issued on Wednesday. A record 7,280 applicants have already accepted places, a significant rise on the 5,568 acceptances for the same period last year …” (more)
[John Walshe and John Fallon, Independent, 16 August]
