“As almost 124,000 Leaving and Junior Certificate students get ready to sit exams tomorrow (Wednesday), the Irish Universities Association is calling on the Government to set out a sustainable funding model to prepare for these and future generations of aspiring third level applicants …” (more)
[IUA, 4 June]
“Universities say the surge in Leaving Cert candidate numbers evident this year must trigger an increase in Government funding to cater for student demand coming down the tracks. More than 124,000 students start the State exams today, the highest figure in years, and one that will continue growing until the mid 2020s at least …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 5 June]
“Irish universities have become the lifeblood of the country by fuelling our cultural and social development, feeding the workforce with skilled workers and boosting the exchequer by €8.9bn a year. We’re living in a digital age where it is vital that our educational institutions provide a talent pipeline for the knowledge economy if we want to stay competitive as a nation …” (more)
[IUA, 3 May]
“As we stagger towards Week 11 of this twice-interrupted Semester I’m back in the office preparing stuff for another set of lectures. This term seems to have gone on forever, largely because of the two breaks (one at half-term around St Patrick’s Day, and other other for Easter). Now, though, the end is in sight …” (more)
[In the Dark, 28 April]
“Ibec, ICTU, USI, American Ireland and British Irish Chamber of Commerce support Irish Universities Association calls for action on funding. The top leadership of the employers union, trades unions, student unions and industry representative bodies have today called for government action on the long-awaited reform of the funding of Irish university and higher education …” (more)
[IUA, 27 April]
“Presidents and Vice-Chancellors of ten universities in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have met at Queen’s University Belfast. At this meeting, all universities confirmed their commitment to collaborating, on an all-island basis, across a broad range of research and education initiatives …” (more)
[IUA, 12 April]
“The Irish Universities Association (IUA) welcomes the announcement today by Ministers Joe McHugh and John Halligan of €12 million investment by the Irish Research Council in ground-breaking, basic research projects. Twelve researchers will each receive a maximum of €1 million funding under the Irish Research Council’s Advanced Laureate Awards to conduct leading-edge research over four years …” (more)
[IUA, 11 April]
“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has called for an increase in state funding for higher education following publication today of a Report ‘Delivering for Ireland: An Impact Assessment of Irish Universities’, commissioned by the Irish Universities Association (IUA) …” (more)
[IFUT, 5 April]
“The Irish Universities Association (IUA) have suggested the possibility of having to limit University places for Irish students in future years due to funding shortages within the sector. The IUA have attributed this possible move to the growing number of students in the sector, and lowered investment by the government …” (more)
[Peter Kelly, Trinity News, 4 April]
The Irish economy benefited by €8.9 billion last year from Ireland’s seven universities newly published research has confirmed. The first ever socio-economic impact research undertaken on the role universities play in the economy and society has been carried out by Indecon on behalf of the Irish Universities Association …” (more, download)
[IUA, 4 April]
“A degree is worth an average €106,000 in a university graduate’s pocket, rising to more than double, €220,000, if they go all the way to a PhD. The figures represent the average value of a third-level qualification over a lifetime, when compared with a school-leaver and take account of the cost of college and deductions such as tax …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 4 April]
“On Tuesday 29th January, the Director of Governance and Funding for the European Universities Association (EUA), Thomas Estermann said at a seminar organised by the Irish Universities Association (IUA), that despite the increase in funding to Irish universities in 2017 and 2018 after a decades of cuts, ‘the long-term sustainability of the higher education system in Ireland remains an issue …'” (more)
[Dylan O’Neill, University Observer, 19 February]
“The IUA welcomes the unanimous vote from Galway City Councillors which calls on the government to act on the Cassells Report and provide a sustainable funding model for third level education. Councillors are well placed to understand the real pressures that students and families are under …” (more)
[IUA, 4 February]
“A top European academic is warning that Ireland is one of two European countries with a third level education system classified as ‘in danger’ due to the shortfall in funding while the number of students has increased …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 29 January]
“The Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD today [29th January 2018] closed a breakfast seminar on ‘Ireland’s place in a new European University System’. Hosted by the Irish Universities Association (IUA), speakers at the event included the European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, Mr Tibor Navracsics and a panel of experts from the Higher Education Authority …” (more)
[Department of Education and Skills, 29 January]
“The Irish universities sector is one of just two European countries with a third level system deemed ‘in danger’, due to a shortfall in funding and increased student numbers, a seminar due to be held in Dublin this morning will hear. The Director of Governance and Funding at the European Universities Association (IUA) will tell the meeting, organised by the Irish Universities Association, that his research has found both Ireland and Serbia are ‘systems in danger’ as a result …” (more)
[RTÉ News, 29 January]
“Light House Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin 7. How can Ireland’s Universities compete with the best in Europe? Hosted by the Irish Universities Association and MC’d by Ella McSweeney, join EU Commissioner for Education Tibor Navracsics, Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor, and a panel of experts …” (more, registration)
“The Irish Universities Association (IUA) is dismayed by the latest developments in Hungary involving attacks on university autonomy and academic freedom, resulting in the Central European University (CEU) moving a large part of its activities out of Hungary from the 2019-20 academic year …” (more)
[IUA, 13 December]
“The proposal was always going to be crazy but what makes it insulting is its timing, writes Victoria White. The commitment by Mary Mitchell O’Connor, the minister of state at the Department of Education with special responsibility for higher education, to create 45 women-only professorships in our third level institutions at the cost of €6m per annum comes when these institutions are struggling for their lives …” (more)
[Irish Examiner, 15 November]
“The launch of the government’s plan to tackle gender equality in higher education today has caused a media stir. In particular, the decision by higher education minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor to create 45 women-only professorships – like most proposals that involve affirmative action – was met with controversy …” (more)
[Ciannait Khan, University Times, 12 November]
