Ninth Level Ireland

“What’s the talk of education? TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY FOR THE SOUTH EAST ‘Ireland has enough universities for a small country …’” (more)

[Irish Times, 31 January]

“University applicant numbers are down 8.7% – but there is little evidence that raising fees has deterred disadvantaged students. There was disturbing news yesterday for those who have argued that the price of a university degree is increasingly affecting choice …” (more)

[Guardian, 31 January]

“More than 750 places are available on 17 new graduate skills conversion programmes in a joint Government-ICT action plan launched yesterday. The programmes, which will be held throughout the State, will start in March and can be applied for through the Bluebrick website …” (more)

[Irish Times, 31 January]

“Cambridge University has come under pressure to reveal the identity of a mysterious Chinese foundation that is donating £3.7m for a new professorship, amid fears that the pressure to raise funds may have exposed it to backdoor diplomacy by Beijing …” (more)

[Alex Spillius and others, Daily Telegraph, 30 January]

“Minister for Research and Innovation, Seán Sherlock TD, today (Monday, January 30th) announced Irish Government funding through Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) of €16m for Lero, the Irish Software Engineering Research Centre based at the University of Limerick (UL) …” (more)

[Alpha Galileo, 30 January]

“After the Internet’s decisive victory over the Stop Online Piracy Act earlier this month, online activists have been looking for their next target, and a growing number of them have chosen the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement ACTA, which was signed by the EU last week …” (more)

[Timothy B Lee, Ars Technica, 30 January]

“Last Thursday’s signing by EU member states of the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) saw a surge of opposition to the agreement in Europe, both on and offline …” (more)

[Eadaoin O'Sullivan, Politico, 30 January]

“… there is far more opportunity at the college level for the textbook market to shift itself via the uncentralized, independent choices by faculty (to assign books) and students (to purchase hardware). If my students have iPads and I assign an iBooks-authored textbook, the college bookstore would simply be bypassed. No-one would care. Or rather, the people who cared wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. College stores make most of their money from merchandising anyway …” (more)

[Kieran Healy, Crooked Timber, 30 January]

“Fewer young people from Northern Ireland have applied to go to university in September 2012. Figures from UCAS, the body through which people apply to universities, showed there were 4.4% fewer applications from NI young people …” (more)

[BBC News, 30 January]

“A total of 750 places on 17 new graduate skills conversion programmes throughout the State were announced by the Government today as part of an Information Communications Technology (ICT) action plan …” (more)

[Michael O'Regan, Irish Times, 30 January]

“The number of UK university applicants has dropped by 8.7% – but school leavers have not been deterred by the tripling of tuition fees, and there has been a sharper drop among more affluent candidates compared with those from ‘disadvantaged’ backgrounds, official figures show …” (more)

[Jeevan Vasagar, Guardian, 30 January]

“The Information Commissioner should have ruled that a university was likely to be storing a copy of a deleted email it had refused a request to disclose, an Information Rights Tribunal has said …” (more)

[Out-Law.com, 30 January]

“Protest against ACTA and ‘SOPA Ireland’. Garden of Remembrance, Parnell Square East, Dublin 1. February 4th, 13:00 until 18:30 …” (more)

[Why We Protest, 30 January]

“The effect of the government’s student visa policies on private higher education colleges has been ‘swift and probably even more devastating than was predicted’, according to a think tank …” (more)

[Simon Baker, Times Higher Education, 30 January]

“I dedicated my Sunday newsround to making a shout-out to Sean Sherlock, the Dail deputy empowered to hammer home the Irish version of SOPA that will damage the innovation culture of Ireland …” (more)

[Bernie Goldbach, Inside View from Ireland, 29 January]

“More than a quarter of new registrants with Fás last year had a third-level qualification, figures from the State training agency indicate …” (more)

[Georgina O'Halloran, Irish Times, 30 January]

“Dublin’s year as European city of science began last week with the launch of the Dublin City of Science programme. The coming months will see more than 160 events taking place, offering a blend of Irish culture, arts and the sciences …” (more)

[Irish Times, 30 January]

“… For Cisco, Irish graduates and tax breaks for research and development are a more important factor than Ireland’s low corporate tax rate. Mr Dedicoat said the tax issue is ‘one part, it always is, but the key for us, from a research and development perspective, is a sustainable supply of talent’ …” (more)

[Derek Scally, Irish Times, 30 January]

“MEATH 1-17 DCU 1-9 Holders Meath advanced to the last four after recovering from a slow start to comfortably overcome 14-man DCU at Pairc Tailteann. The students began brightly with two converted frees by Emmet Kent, but only three of their points came from open play …” (more)

[Independent, 30 January]

“… But the current system of measuring scholarly influence doesn’t reflect the way many researchers work in an environment driven more and more by the social Web. Research that used to take months or years to reach readers can now find them almost instantly via blogs and Twitter …” (more)

[Jennifer Howard, Chronicle of Higher Education, 29 January]