“Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Education Minister Richard Bruton today hosted the latest in a series of regional meetings on the Action Plan for Education in the Mayo Campus of Galway Mayo Institute of Technology in Castlebar …” (more)
[Merrion Street, 31 March]
“Two people who raised concerns about expenses claims at University of Limerick remain suspended on full pay, two years after making a complaint of bullying, an Oireachtas Committee has heard. Senior University of Limerick staff, including outgoing president Prof Don Barry and director of finance John Field, were questioned on the university’s financial accounts at a hearing of the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday …” (more)
[Éanna Ó Caollaí, Irish Times, 30 March]
“The University of Limerick (UL) made a €186,000 settlement with the Revenue Commissioners after the public spending watchdog raised an issue about how the college remunerated staff on sabbatical leave …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly and Ryan Nugent, Independent, 31 March]
“A pilot programme in Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), supported by JP Morgan and ESB, aims to prepare young people from Dublin’s inner city communities to access apprenticeship positions …” (more)
[Irish Building Magazine, 31 March]
“Modern scientific texts are more impenetrable than they were over a century ago, suggests a team of researchers in Sweden. It’s easy to believe that …” (more)
[Philip Ball, Nature News, 30 March]
“Education Minister Richard Bruton is due to visit Castlebar tomorrow amid ongoing concerns over the downgrading of the Mayo GMIT Campus. He will officially open the new education centre at Rush Street in Castlebar while a visit to the Mayo GMIT Campus is also scheduled …” (more)
[Connaught Telegraph, 30 March]
“More than three-quarters of UK university staff are dissatisfied with the way their institution is run, according to the preliminary results of a major survey that present damning feedback about the management of the country’s higher education sector …” (more)
[Matthew Reisz, Times Higher Education, 30 March]
“A joint venture between Harrison Street Real Estate Capital (‘Harrison Street’) and Global Student Accommodation Group (‘GSA’), has just announced plans to develop phase II of its New Mill student housing project in Dublin …” (more)
[Irish Building Magazine, 30 March]
“The Higher Education Authority has spent over €75,000 so far probing how the University of Limerick handled whistleblowers’ claims about irregular expense claims and ensuing industrial relations problems. Two of the whistleblowers who raised concerns about claims have been suspended since early 2015, and the third is a former employee who left UL in 2010 …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 30 March]
“Three institutes of technology continue to have ‘significant’ financial deficits, according to the Higher Education Authority (HEA). However, another three that were on the critical list last year are now balancing their books, the Public Accounts Committee was told yesterday …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 30 March]
“Senior representatives of the University of Limerick will be examined across a number of financial issues before the Public Accounts Committee in Leinster House in Dublin this Thursday afternoon. Witnesses from UL who have been called upon to answer questions by the committee include …” (more)
[Anne Sheridan, Limerick Leader, 30 March]
“A global education firm which is setting up in Ireland to recruit international students to Irish universities says Brexit represents a major growth opportunity. Latest figures show the volume of international students applying to UK colleges is falling, while the number of international applicants to Irish universities has jumped by 17% this year …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 29 March]
“The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has been urged to investigate whether there are conflicts of interest among senior staff across third-level colleges who are shareholders in spinout companies. It follows concerns raised by Sinn Féin deputy David Cullinane at the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday surrounding the sale of a company co-located at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 29 March]
“Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if a full-time employee with a third level college who is due to reach the age of 65 years in March 2017 and therefore faces mandatory retirement in September 2017 will be able to agree an extension of their employment contract for an additional period; and the flexibility which exists for the extension of such public sector employment contracts in advance of the expected change of the rules regarding mandatory retirement ages …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 28 March]
“Maynooth in Co Kildare and Cobh in Co Cork have been added to the growing list of residential areas where rent increases are capped by law. Minister for Housing Simon Coveney said the latest Residential Tenancies Board ‘Rent Index’ identified the towns as ‘Rental Pressure Zones’, where rents were above average and rising rapidly …” (more)
[Tim O’Brien, Irish Times, 29 March]
“One of the top universities in central and eastern Europe may be forced out of Hungary under a draft law being prepared by the hard-right government, which has also accused eight British institutions of ‘operating unlawfully’ in the country …” (more)
[Andrew MacDowall, Guardian, 29 March]
“Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail): In context I raise the issue of third level funding in general, with particular reference to the Castlebar campus of GMIT which, like many institutes of technology, faces significant financial challenges, notwithstanding the fact that student numbers are growing at third and fourth level across the State. However, most of the buoyancy is within the universities sector and, unfortunately, the institutes of technology are struggling …” (more)
[Seanad debates, 28 March]
“University tuition fees in England are now the highest in the world, new analysis has found. The average annual cost of £9,188, makes it significantly more than higher education in the US, where the average student pays $9,410 (£7,518) per annum, according to the Student Loan Calculator website …” (more)
[Ben Kentish, Independent, 28 March]
“When asking if UK higher education has a ‘retention problem’, the obvious place to start is the known data on lower retention rates for certain groups of students, particularly mature, black and minority ethnic and students from poorer socio-economic backgrounds …” (more)
[Sorana Vieru, Wonkhe, 29 March]
“Every university has a list of A journals, those it considers to be the most prestigious in its field. Even the journals that rank institutions have such lists, and many universities use them to measure their impact. As a result, academics establish their credentials by publishing in these journals, and universities grant tenure and promotion for the same …” (more)
[Andrew Hoffman, Inside Higher Ed, 28 March]
