“Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has today confirmed that the public service moratorium on filling promotional posts in schools will not be lifted. Minister Quinn made the statement during his address at the Teachers Union of Ireland conference in Kerry this afternoon …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 27 April]
“Thousands of researchers, librarians and other staff are being placed on temporary contracts by universities, in violation of Irish and EU legislation, the conference of university teachers was told at the weekend …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 18 April]
“A third of Ireland’s science postgraduates may end up having to pursue their research careers abroad unless changes can be achieved in their terms of employment. Their departure would represent a wasteful loss and could also undermine efforts to achieve a knowledge economy here …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 14 April]
“John Hennessy is one of the first HEA chairmen to be drawn from the private sector. But will his business experience be a help or a hindrance in the battles to come …” (more)
[Louise Holden, Irish Times, 12 April]
“The government’s cap on hiring staff is a ‘disaster’ for higher education, according to the new provost-elect of Trinity College Dublin. Patrick Prendergast, who won last week’s election to become provost of the university for the next ten years, also said that he was in favour of the introduction of some form of student contribution …” (more)
[Martha Kearns, The Post, 10 March]
“Speaking from ground zero of third level education in Ireland, I can categorically and unequivocally state the Ireland’s Higher Education Authority’s Employment Contract Framework (ECF) is undermining the capability of well-intentioned staff to develop and prepare relevant course materials for delivery to students …” (more)
[Bernie Goldbach, Inside View, 6 April]
“Madam, – Malcolm Byrne of the Higher Education Authority (April 4th) conveniently glosses over the harsh realities of the revised Employment Control Framework for externally funded research staff. Instead he manages the impressive feat of presenting the new framework as a positive advance for contract research staff …” (more)
[John Walsh, Irish Times, 6 April]
“Recently, the HEA circulated a document called “Employment Control Framework for the Higher Education Sector 2011-2014″. This is the second such framework issued by the Department of Finance, the first having applied for the three years up to December 2010 and requiring a 6% reduction in teaching and support staff …” (more)
[Tom Boland, Independent, 6 April]
“… A University is like a delicate tree. The scholars are its roots the excellent students its fruits. If you do not want a tree to grow too fast because you cannot maintain it, you cut the branches, better if you cut the loose ones so that the tree will grow stronger. The ECF aims at cutting the roots instead. But only one thing happens to a tree when you cut the roots …” (more)
[An eye on science and what makes it going, 5 April]
“Madam, – Dr John Walsh and Dr Sarah Harney (March 31st) make a number of incorrect statements concerning the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Employment Control Framework …” (more)
[Malcolm Byrne, Irish Times, 4 April]
“Scientific endeavour should be intrinsic in innovation policy rather than ‘a staging post to higher GDP’. Innovation policy has been central to the avowed economic strategies of successive Irish governments, before and during the current crisis, and as a purported way out of it …” (more)
[Aidan Kane, Eolas magazine, 31 March]
“At the outset I have to declare an interest here. As a member of Dublin South East Labour for many years, I know Ruairi Quinn personally. I have campaigned on his behalf on many issues and argued with him on all sorts of topics at constituency meetings. We have shared more than one pint over the years …” (more)
[Pass Level Politics, 29 March]
“A blog post and discussion over on The Little Review is raising interesting issues in relation to the current challenges faced by Irish academia and in particular the humanities and social sciences …” (more)
[Cormac Walsh, Ireland after NAMA, 29 March]
“Public sector agencies or quangos generally fall into three groups: (a) those with a high public profile and a reasonably good image – the Environmental Protection Agency; (b) those with a high public profile and a bad image – Nama; and (c) those nobody has ever heard of …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Irish Times, 29 March]
“It’s been an interesting few weeks in Irish universities. Perhaps for the first time, everybody in the sector seems to be singing from the same hymn-sheet: the Employment Control Framework II is madness. That is certainly my opinion …” (more)
[Kevin Denny, Geary Behavioural Economics Blog, 25 March]
“Efforts are underway to settle a most unusual row between Ireland’s universities and the Higher Education Authority (HEA), which has raised tensions between cabinet colleagues in the country’s new coalition government …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, The Great Beyond, 25 March]
“As some of you probably know, I wrote a letter to the Irish Times where I outlined the problem with the Employment Control Framework, Mark II that became law a few weeks ago …” (more)
[James McInerney, Science, society, stuff ..., 25 March]
“The HEA have put the new Employment Control Framework 2011-2014 as it relates to the third level sector up on their website. It has some significant revisions, especially concerning the application of insitution employment ceilings to include non-exchequer funded staff and the requirement to receive approval from the HEA for all staff appointments, regardless of funding source …” (more)
[Rob Kitchin, Ireland after NAMA, 25 March]
“Controversial new rules on recruitment in the higher education sector are to be amended by the Government within weeks. Officials at the Department of Education and the Department of Enterprise are working on changes to the rules which have brought angry protests from academics …” (more)
[Seán Flynn, Irish Times, 25 March]
“Ministers are preparing to soften tough new restrictions on appointments and promotions in universities. Academics say the ‘Soviet-style’ controls, designed to reduce the cost of the public sector paybill, would strip universities of their independence and autonomy …” (more)
[John Walshe and Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 25 March]
