Ninth Level Ireland » Ruairí Quinn

Labour’s Higher Education Failings Make Seanad Motion More Than a Little Infuriating

Posted in Fees, access and admissions, Governance and administration on July 17th, 2017 by steve

Ireland “There is little point in relitigating one of the most extraordinary U-turns in the history of higher education policy in Ireland: that of then-Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn, who, just weeks after signing a giant pledge on behalf of the Labour Party to freeze the student contribution charge at €1,500, announced that the fee would, after all, have to be increased to €2,000 (and this was just the first in a whole series of increases) …” (more)

[University Times, 16 July]

Tags: Jan O'Sullivan, Labour Party, Ruairí Quinn, student contribution charge, student loans

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Bringing back third-level fees will rebuild class barriers

Posted in Fees, access and admissions, Governance and administration on June 6th, 2016 by steve

Ireland “It has become a regular occurrence. Ever since Peter Cassells, former general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, was appointed by former minister for education Ruairí Quinn as chairperson of a group to examine higher education funding in July 2014 there has been a trickle of pitches regarding how students will have to foot the bill for their third-level learning …” (more)

[Una Mullally, Irish Times, 6 June]

Tags: fees, funding, Peter Cassells, Ruairí Quinn, student loans

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John Walshe on Education Journalism and Politics

Posted in Governance and administration on May 26th, 2016 by steve

Ireland “Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week’s programme I bring you the second part of my interview with John Walshe who after spending 4 decades as an education journalist was appointed special adviser to education and skills minister Ruairí Quinn. He wrote about this experience in An Education: How an outsider became an insider – and learned what really goes on in Irish government …” (audio)

[Inside Education on 103.2 Dublin City FM, 25 May]

Tags: AV, John Walshe, Ruairí Quinn

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Programme 256, John Walshe on Education Journalism and Politics

Posted in Governance and administration on May 18th, 2016 by steve

Ireland “Presented and produced by Seán Delaney. On this week’s programme I speak to John Walshe who spent many years as education editor for the Irish Independent and was also special adviser to Ruairí Quinn when he was minister for education and skills. He authored a book about his experience as special adviser titled An Education: How an outsider became an insider …” (more, audio)

[Inside Education on 103.2 Dublin City FM, 18 May]

Tags: AV, John Walshe, Ruairí Quinn

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A good day for the University of the South East campaign – no mergers and no Jan O’Sullivan and Tom Boland

Posted in Governance and administration on May 8th, 2016 by steve

Ireland “A good day for the University of the South East campaign – no mergers and no Jan O’Sullivan and Tom Boland. John Halligan announced on Facebook that … ‘I have also secured a commitment that the need to merge with another IT will be taken out of the criteria for Technological University Status’ …” (more)

[The John Halligan Facebook post is here]
[University of the South East Campaign, 7 May]

Tags: IT Carlow, Jan O'Sullivan, John Halligan, mergers, Ruairí Quinn, technological universities, Tom Boland, WIT

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Labour declines to rule out rising fees for third-level students

Posted in Fees, access and admissions, Governance and administration on February 16th, 2016 by steve

Ireland “The Labour party has confirmed it cannot rule out increasing fees for third-level students. Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan said she had been briefed on the contents of a report examining the future funding of the sector …” (more)

[Sarah Bardon and Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 16 February]

Tags: election, fees, Jan O'Sullivan, Labour Party, Peter Cassells, Ruairí Quinn

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A system divided by years of rows

Posted in Teaching on January 6th, 2016 by steve

Ireland “The current Junior Cycle row has dragged on for almost four years. It had been talked about for decades but teacher opposition to assessing their own students meant the idea was parked by successive ministers …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 6 January]

Tags: ASTI, junior cycle, Ruairí Quinn, TUI

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Junior-cycle reform still hangs in balance

Posted in Teaching on December 28th, 2015 by steve

Ireland “After all the huffing and puffing, the strikes and the votes, long-awaited junior cycle reforms are due to be rolled out in the spring of 2016. But just one in four schools will be in a position to deliver the changes …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 28 December]

Tags: Jan O'Sullivan, junior cycle, Ruairí Quinn

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HEA boss denies ‘looking for head’ of ex-Waterford Institute of Technology president

Posted in Governance and administration, Legal issues on December 11th, 2015 by steve

Ireland “The chief executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) strongly rejected suggestions that he ‘went looking for the head’ of the former president of Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) …” (more)

[Daniel McConnell, Irish Examiner, 11 December]

Tags: HEA, John McGuinness, Kieran Byrne, Mary Lou McDonald, Oireachtas, PAC, Ruairí Quinn, Tom Boland, WIT

Student grants: Resistance to assets means test delays reform

Posted in Fees, access and admissions on August 18th, 2015 by steve

“Reform of the student grant scheme has been on the education agenda for decades, but successive governments have shied away from taking action, the Fine Gael-Labour Coalition being no exception …” (more)

[Joe Humphreys, Irish Times, 18 August]

Tags: capital assets test, HEA, maintenance grants, Ruairí Quinn, SUSI

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Students from Dublin least likely to get third-level grants

Posted in Fees, access and admissions on August 18th, 2015 by steve

“College applicants from Dublin are much less likely to get a student grant for higher education than their counterparts in rural Ireland, latest figures show. Data obtained by The Irish Times from Student Universal Support Ireland (Susi) shows that 71.5% of CAO applicants in Longford last year got a means-tested student grant …” (more)

[Joe Humphreys, Irish Times, 18 August]

Tags: HEA, maintenance grants, Ruairí Quinn, SUSI, USI

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Time to end the ‘Rotten Game’ – we need more college places to meet the demand

Posted in Fees, access and admissions on August 17th, 2015 by steve

“It’s more of everything this year – more students taking the Leaving, more getting better grades, more applying for college, more being offered places and more points needed for more courses …” (more)

[John Walshe, Independent, 17 August]

Tags: CAO, Jan O'Sullivan, Philip Nolan, Ruairí Quinn, student numbers, undergraduate admissions

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Junior cycle reform deal contains enough for both sides

Posted in Teaching on May 23rd, 2015 by steve

“In the weeks before he was reshuffled out of cabinet last July, former minister for education Ruairí Quinn said of his much-vaunted junior cycle reforms: ‘I would hope to have pushed the boat out so far that it can’t be recalled’ …” (more)

[Joe Humphreys, Irish Times, 22 May]

Tags: ASTI, Jan O'Sullivan, junior cycle, Ruairí Quinn, TUI

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Valuable lessons to be learned from Susi

Posted in Fees, access and admissions on April 16th, 2015 by steve

“It was initially hailed as a fine example of public service reform, but in its first year of operation Susi was a disaster. And it’s now clear that it was a disaster waiting to happen because of inadequate planning …” (more)

[Editorial, Independent, 16 April]

Tags: Comptroller and Auditor General, maintenance grants, Ruairí Quinn, SUSI

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No excuses for the SUSI debacle in year one

Posted in Fees, access and admissions on April 16th, 2015 by steve

“The chaos that engulfed SUSI in its first year of operation is perfectly understandable, and completely inexcusable, after reading the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Séamus McCarthy …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 16 April]

Tags: Comptroller and Auditor General, maintenance grants, Ruairí Quinn, Seamus McCarthy, SUSI

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Student fees to be frozen at €3,000 for 2016 vows minister

Posted in Fees, access and admissions on March 25th, 2015 by steve

“The third-level student contribution charge will be frozen at €3,000 for 2016, Education Minster Jan O’Sullivan has pledged. It effectively kicks the thorny issue to touch until after next year’s general election …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 25 March]

Tags: Ciarán Ó Catháin, fees, Jan O'Sullivan, Ruairí Quinn, student contribution charge

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Minister Signals No Further Increase in Student Contribution Charge

Posted in Fees, access and admissions on March 24th, 2015 by steve

“The Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, has said that she does not see ‘any circumstances’ where the student contribution charge will be increased beyond €3000 …” (more)

[Edmund Heaphy, University Times, 24 March]

Tags: Jan O'Sullivan, Lynn Ruane, NCAD, Ruairí Quinn, student contribution charge, TCD, USI

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The Question of a University for the South-East

Posted in Governance and administration on March 20th, 2015 by steve

“Beside the fantastic St Patrick’s Day Parade in Dublin on Tuesday, I also enjoyed reading the book by John Walshe over the past long weekend. The book, titled ‘An Education: How an outsider became an insider – and learned what really goes on in Irish government’, is about what Walshe has encountered and learned …” (more)

[Research on Higher Education in Ireland, 20 February]

Tags: IT Carlow, John Walshe, Ruairí Quinn, technological universities, WIT

Minister snubbed by teachers’ union over Junior Cert dispute

Posted in Teaching on March 14th, 2015 by steve

“The secondary teachers union, the ASTI, is snubbing Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan with a decision not to invite her to its annual Easter conference …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 14 March]

Tags: ASTI, Jan O'Sullivan, junior cycle, Pauric Travers, Ruairí Quinn, TUI

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The fallacy of broad course choices at third level

Posted in Fees, access and admissions, Teaching on March 12th, 2015 by steve

“A few years ago the then Minister, Ruari Quinn, got it into his head that there were too many programmes within the CAO system. The basic idea was that institutions were deliberately manipulating the supply-and-demand nature of the system to create seemingly high prestige courses …” (more)

[educationandstuff, 12 March]

Tags: CAO, course choice, Philip Nolan, Ruairí Quinn, undergraduate admissions

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Top pages (last 5 days)
Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Amendment) Bill

General Scheme of the Bill
15 May 2017

Top stories (last 5 days)
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