“Billionaire technology entrepreneur Elon Musk has given Taoiseach Enda Kenny advice on getting Ireland back to the future – scrap university fees …” (more)
[Independent, 31 October]
“One of the biggest single projects within the Grangegorman re-development was today put out to market by the Minister for Education and Skills, Mr Ruairi Quinn TD …” (more)
[Irish Building Magazine, 31 October]
“Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn, today welcomed the publication in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) of the formal invitation to the market to tender for the Grangegorman Public Private Partnership project …” (more)
[The Labour Party, 31 October]
“Several universities around the country are to ‘trial’ a US points grading system, and do away with the tradition first, 2:1 and second class marks. There will be 20 institutions taking part in the pilot, including several Russell Group universities, which will see students graded from 0 to 4.25 points …” (more)
[Lucy Sherriff, Huffington Post, 31 October]
“Perhaps it is time to rethink Ireland’s participation in international scientific organisations. There was a lot of quiet satisfaction in the world of physics this month with the award of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Physics to theoretical physicists Peter Higgs and François Englert …” (more)
[Cormac O Raifeartaigh, Irish Times, 31 October]
“I always fear what I see as a ministerial PR stunt, especially when it goes unchallenged. Education Minister Ruairi Quinn’s project runs roughshod over the reservations of teachers, particularly in the area of assessment …” (more)
[Independent, 31 October]
“Ireland has more third-level graduates than its fellow EU members, a new report has shown. The European Commission report shows we are on track to reach many of the Europe 2020 education targets …” (more)
[Independent, 31 October]
“Sir, – Buried in the Department of Education and Skills website there is a statement in relation to apprenticeships. Essentially, from 2014 onwards, the onus is placed on apprentices to directly pay the institutes of technology for their tuition …” (more)
[Paul Gorey, Irish Times, 31 October]
“Lecturers and support staff are on a one-day strike at Queen’s University and the University of Ulster in a dispute over pay and work loads …” (more)
[BBC News, 31 October]
“I’m in the middle of grading papers. I started, a while ago, grading the electronic files using Word’s reviewing capacity (track changes and comments). This results in (i) it taking much longer, because I make many more comments …” (more)
[Harry Brighouse, Crooked Timber, 30 October]
“In 2010, an excellent, if a tad bleak, article appeared in The Economist describing the state of modern day academia: the disposable academic. If anything, things are worse now …” (more)
[Michelle Kelly-Irving, Huffington Post, 30 October]
“Students at Trinity College Dublin begin voting today in a referendum on the impeachment of student union president Tom Lenihan …” (more)
[Irish Times, 30 October]
“Over 3,800 students received grants to undertake postgraduate education in the last school year, receiving some €14.5 million between them …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 30 October]
“Sir, – Senator David Norris (October 23rd) rightly indicates the problematic dilemma regarding preparation of an accurate register for university panel Seanad seats, once updated to include graduates from all third-level institutions …” (more)
[John Kennedy, Irish Times, 30 October]
“Around 100 members of staff are to undertake industrial action at the National College of Ireland due to what SIPTU describes as a ‘unilateral breach by the college management of an agreement reached with union members two years ago’ …” (more)
[TheJounal.ie, 29 October]
“Do we need to know? A specialism in a particular area of history is a funny old thing. Certain fields appear to exempt the researcher from any potential accusations of vested interest, while others appear to invite the observation that the author must be a sympathiser …” (more)
[Ciara Meehan, 29 October]
“The new Further Education and Training Authority Solas is replacing An Foras Áiseanna Saothair, now that the Minister for Education and Skills, Ruairí Quinn TD, has signed the order for its establishment …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 29 October]
“A group of academics in Dublin City University (DCU) have initiated a campaign, Defence of Irish Universities (DIU), which endeavours to combat what it perceives as massive under-funding combined with commercialisation and managerialism within third-level education …” (more)
[Lucy Ryan, University Observer, 29 October]
“Although I kind of agree that university education has become ‘a confidence trick and a scam’, I suspect I agree for different reasons from those given by academics who have signed up to DCU’s Defend the University campaign …” (more)
[educationandstuff, 29 October]
“Beat the bullies. Bullying is a big challenge both in schools and outside, and some new initiatives aim to tackle it …” (more)
[Irish Times, 29 October]
