“Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Education and Skills his views on salary costs as a percentage of overall higher education sector spend; if he is satisfied with the current percentage cost; his plans to address this matter; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil Éireann Written Answers, 5 October]
“Education Minister Ruairi Quinn is under pressure to decide soon on student fees or some other source of funding to meet a looming €500 million gap in third-level budgets after the country’s drop in the latest world university rankings …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 7 October]
“Leading academics have warned that Ireland needs to start charging college fees again, or face a catastrophic decline in higher education standards. The provost of Trinity, Paddy Prendergast, yesterday told the Irish Daily Mail that the college has only two-thirds of the budget enjoyed by its equivalents in the UK …” (more)
[TheJournal.ie, 6 September]
“Higher education institutions, understandably, jealously guard their independence and autonomy regarding it as the best way of achieving the aims of higher education. Governments, understandably, feel that since they pay most of the bills they are entitled to a say in the activities and outputs of the institutions. Extreme positions can be adopted …” (more)
[Richard Thorn, BlueBrick.ie, 2 September]
“If we don’t adequately fund the arts, where will all the digital content come from? Recent noises from within the UK’s funding structures suggest that the future for arts and humanities education is somewhat threatened. In a time of restricted resources (the argument goes) the available funding needs to be focused on topics that make a clear, traceable contribution to the national economy. This essentially means supporting the STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and medicine — at the expense of the arts and humanities. As a computer scientist I might be expected to be loosely in favour of such a move …” (more)
[simondobson.org, 5 July]
“A recent American study has pointed out that in recent times there has been more spending growth in healthcare and education than in any other sector of society. Despite this major focus on these sectors, there is more dissatisfaction with both than with almost anything else …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 5 July]
“A few years ago the then Irish Minister for Education mused aloud in the course of a conversation with me about higher education funding. He wondered whether the answer to the resourcing problems of universities (which were then much less serious than they are now) could be resolved by letting them all ‘go private’ …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 1 July]
“Bandon Labour Councillor Gearoid Buckley is calling for a more sustainable system of third level funding to be introduced …” (more)
[Cork Politics, 20 June]
“Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Education and Skills the terms of reference for the proposed study by the Higher Education Authority into the sustainability of the existing funding framework for third level …” (more)
[Dáil Éireann Priority Questions, 8 June]
“According to a report in yesterday’s Irish Times, the Irish Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn TD, has expressed concerns about higher education funding …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 26 May]
“The European University Association has called on EU governments to commit taxpayers to more money for higher education, as member countries continue to slash spending. Meeting in Aarhus Denmark, on Friday (May 13), the 850 member peak body argued more public funding for higher education was essential, rejecting proposals to shift the cost to individuals and the private sector …” (more)
[Stephen Matchett, The Australian, 16 May]
“The shifts in economic power are being mirrored in the university sector, both in education and research. It’s happened before. The global financial crisis has exposed a lot of unfunded holes in different parts of the economy, and the resulting cuts and re-prioritisations are affecting the ways in which a lot of organisations operate. Universities find themselves uncharacteristically in the front line of this process …” (more)
[simondobson.org, 4 May]
“In today’s Irish Times, former president of DCU Ferdinand von Prondzynski, states that before the recession, Irish universities got about half the money per student compared with UK universities and only a fraction of the money in the US, and cuts have been made since in that parsimonious funding …” (discussion thread)
[Politics.ie, 8 March]
“These are tough times for Europe’s 5,000 or so universities. As public funding is slashed as a result of the financial downturn, universities must now look elsewhere to galvanise their financial security …” (more)
[Natasha Gilbert, The Great Beyond, 22 February]
“Although public money remains the main source of financing for most European universities, a growing number of institutions are turning to such additional sources of revenue as private contracts with industry, service-related income, philanthropy, and, in some countries, increased tuition, says a new report by the European University Association …” (more)
[Aisha Labi, Chronicle of Higher Education, 21 February]
“Madam, – JA Barnwell (January 31st) repeats some tired debating points on university funding, which ought to be addressed …” (more)
[Robert Ellis, Irish Times, 2 January]
“… As society tries to come to grips with a totally changed economic environment and as governments try to make ends meet, expensive public services have come under fire from all quarters, and higher education is right there amongst them. Two common threads in all this criticism are the charge of under-performance (or rather more accurately, the neglect of students and of frontline teaching), and complaints about allegedly excessive pay for academics …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 27 January]
“Chairman: I welcome all the witnesses. Our meeting may be disrupted on a few occasions because in order to do business here effectively, we normally have a pairing arrangement but there is no such arrangement today. Therefore, we are at the mercy of votes in the House …” (more)
[Committee of Public Accounts, 20 January]
“So far I’ve managed to avoid the new years list idea. The new years resolution and/or predictions phenomena just don’t work for me. Anyhow, with all the political happenings taking place at the moment in the country. the implications of associated ‘cost-savings’ methods that some people seem certain will be implemented, along with some interesting websites I’ve come across, I’ve changed my mind …” (more)
[Pennybridged’s Weblog …, 23 January]
“@brianmlucey @vonprond Make everything about cash and metrics and the university is finished, except as a commercial research house.” (tweet)
[Norman Wyse, Twitter, 28 December]
