“During a presentation to UCD’s Governing Authority in October, university officials revealed new figures demonstrating a dramatic increase in complaints. These figures show that incidents of harassment and sexual misconduct have been largely underreported at UCD …” (more)
[Conor Capplis, College Tribune, 20 January]
“Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris TD has welcomed the publication of the Higher Education Research and Development Survey (HERD) which measures expenditure and human resources devoted to research work in the higher education sector for the academic year 2018-2019 …” (more)
[gov.ie, 20 January]
“The majority of Leaving Cert students want a choice between calculated grades and sitting June exams this year, according to a survey. The first preference of over half of the students – 55% – is to have that flexibility and the figure rises to 81% when second preferences are included. Only 4% of students – one in 25 – voted for the conventional exams as their top option, in the Irish Second Level Students Union (ISSU) survey …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 20 January]
“French university students protested Wednesday on Paris’ Left Bank to demand to be allowed back to class and to call attention to suicides and financial troubles among students cut off from friends, professors and job opportunities amid the pandemic …” (more)
[Independent, 20 January]
“Michael Byrne, the homeless man affectionately known as ‘Old Man Belfield’, did not believe he was homeless because ‘UCD was his home’, his funeral Mass was told. The 71-year-old, who spent more than 40 years roaming the south Dublin campus and died while sleeping rough there on January 11th, was remembered by UCD chaplain Fr Eamonn Bourke at as ‘an important member of our community’ …” (more)
[Simon Carswell, Irish Times, 20 January]
“A student nurse had to help an elderly patient shower after his toe fell off, the Dáil has heard. As the TD’s debated the motion of pay for student nurses and midwives, Sinn Féin TD for Kildare, Patricia Ryan, read one nurse’s particularly gruesome account into the Dáil record …” (more)
[Steven Heaney, Irish Examiner, 20 January]
“The Leaving Certificate is ‘often too inflexible’ and uses a ‘very limited range’ of methods for assessing learning, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has told educators. Mr Martin was speaking at the launch of the 2020 Education Matters Education Yearbook this afternoon …” (more)
[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 19 January]
“A 21-year-old student nurse has described her anger at the Government debating whether or not to allocate people in her role a €100-a-week allowance while she holds the hands of dying Covid-19 patients. Tessa Bock says student nurses have been recognised as frontline workers since the start of the pandemic last March. ‘We had to quit jobs, sacrifice our health and our families’ health and dive right into the middle of it all’ …” (more)
[Olivia Kelleher, Irish Times, 20 January]
“Improving quality of life for people globally means investing in education. By 2025, more than 100 million learners are estimated to be capable of higher education but won’t have access to it either because they cannot afford the costs, or because courses aren’t available in their region …” (more)
[Rory McGreal, The Conversation, 19 January]
“The Visitors have upheld a contentious proposal to limit the number of Scholars elected this year, amid fears of a spike in the number of students winning the scholarship. In their ruling – seen by The University Times – the Visitors determined that it was up to College Board members to decide on the quota system …” (more)
[Cormac Watson, University Times, 19 January]
“I’m thinking of studying an undergraduate course in a UK university in September 2021. Following Brexit, I’m having difficulty establishing what fees I’ll have to pay. Could you clarify what the situation is for Irish students? … (more)
[Brian Mooney, Irish Times, 19 January]
“The case for a university in Waterford is eons old. Waterford was a large rich trading city in the 1840’s and was the natural location for a NUI university, along with Cork and Dublin. Hansard, the official transcript of the UK parliament, indicates the university was moved to Galway as Waterford’s leading political families were associated with Napoleon …” (more)
[Waterford News and Star, 19 January]
“UCDSU President Conor Anderson took to the ‘No Detriment’ Facebook group on Monday night in light of the recent news that both UCC and Trinity have brought in new accommodations to assist students during the ongoing pandemic …” (more)
[Rosie Kuntz, College Tribune, 19 January]
“Offering student nurses contracts as paid healthcare assistants in hospitals would have more disadvantages than advantages, a report to be given by the Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to Cabinet this morning has found. The report said such a move, which has been called for by nursing representative organisations, would ‘undermine the graduate training model’ for nurses and ‘may have a displacement effect on healthcare assistants’ …” (more)
[Martin Wall, Irish Times, 19 January]
“Ministers are set to discuss issues around pay for student nurses at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, with nursing unions reiterating calls for fair remuneration. In November, a review commissioned by the Department of Health and carried out by Prof Tom Collins recommended that the pandemic placement grant, a payment of €100 per week after tax, should be paid when student nurses are on hospital placements from January 2021 until the end of the pandemic …” (more)
[BreakingNews.ie, 19 January]
“A former Trinity lecturer – Dr Victoria Coffey – facilitated and took part in unethical vaccine trials in mother and baby homes during the 1960s. Mother and baby homes were institutions set up in housing women pregnant outside of marriage – something deemed shameful in Ireland, particularly by the Catholic Church, during the 20th century …” (more)
[Emer Moreau and Cormac Watson, University Times, 18 January]
“One hundred-and-forty students will jet into Limerick from Africa tomorrow, to study at the University of Limerick, and will have to isolate on UL’s campus for 14 days as part of international covid-19 travel protocols. The Algerian government is funding the PhD students to study at UL under a deal estimated to be worth over €10 million to the university …” (more)
[David Raleigh, BreakingNews.ie, 18 January]
“Almost 17,000 laptops have been delivered to third-level students throughout Ireland as part of a publicly-funded scheme to facilitate online learning during the pandemic. The 16,700 Dell laptops were funded under a €168 million scheme announced by Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris, for third level institutions and students …” (more)
[Ciara O’Brien, Irish Times, 19 January]
“This morning, College announced through an email to students that new arrangements regarding the Library were to come into effect from January 22, following the recent surge in Covid-19 cases across the country. As exams finish on January 22, College will instigate new arrangements for student access to the Library. The focus on these arrangements will be to balance the ‘provision for Library users’ with the health and safety of Library staff and students …” (more)
[Jamie Cox, Trinity News, 18 January]
“Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris confirmed this week that the thousands of extra college places that were introduced last year to cope with the demand during the pandemic will remain in place. He also plans to introduce 2,000 more places next year. However, while increasing access to higher education should be commended and encouraged, the circumstances of this particular announcement are more complicated than they seem …” (more)
[University Times, 17 January]
