“In an email to students this evening, Provost Patrick Prendergast explained that because of College’s previous preparations, not much will change in Trinity as College is operating at a ‘very high level of safety’ …” (more)
[Shannon Connolly and Audrey Brown, Trinity News, 20 October]
“I had a piece in the Irish Times today which I wrote a few weeks ago and which I’m still happy with. I believe the move to online learning will, on balance, benefit students’ education and I also feel that those in the digital learning ‘space’ have not been vocal enough in reassuring students and their parents that the move to online learning will not impact on the quality of the education that we deliver …” (more)
[Tales from Academia, 20 September]
“There is ‘overwhelming’ evidence that schools remain safe settings and they will continue to operate during the Level 5 restrictions, Minister for Education Norma Foley has said. In a statement, she said the move to increase public health restrictions will support schools to continue to operate safely and sustainably during the pandemic …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 20 October]
“There is no doubt that the Covid-19 crisis has impacted hugely on education, especially at primary and secondary levels. The third-level sector, however, has been able to continue at close-to-normal pace, thanks to the fact that older students are more capable of adapting to online learning …” (more)
[Greg Foley, Irish Times, 20 October]
“In an expected move tonight, the government has decided to implement Level 5 restrictions on the country for six weeks, starting Wednesday night. Implications for the higher education sector were not mentioned by the Taoiseach during his address to the country this evening announcing Cabinet’s decision on the imposition of heightened Covid-19 restrictions …” (more)
[Audrey Brown, Trinity News, 19 October]
“The ‘current arrangements for teaching’ – which are predominantly focused online – will remain in place for the duration of Michaelmas term, the Head of the School of English has said. In an email to students …” (more)
[Molly Furey, University Times, 19 October]
“Any Trinity student who frequents the library, particularly during exam season, knows the all too familiar struggle of trying to find a seat: pacing the BLU, passing rows upon rows of occupied seats, or desks reserved with a pile of untouched books and a jacket. In October of last year, the practice of ‘desk hogging’ became such an issue that College hired teams of postgraduate students to manage the situation …” (more)
[Grace Gageby, Trinity News, 19 October]
“A lecturer at University College Dublin (UCD) has come up with a novel approach to delivering online lectures to his students during the pandemic …” (more)
[RTÉ News, 19 October]
“Labour Party councillor for Limerick City East, Elena Secas is making a strong plea to people for respectful behaviour in residential areas around UL ‘Residents in housing estates adjacent to UL have big concerns about quite large groups of people socializing in their area …'” (more)
[Donal O’Regan, Limerick Leader, 18 October]
“This week, eight students spoke with The University Times about a culture of intimidation and fear at Trinity Hall during the coronavirus pandemic. Students are facing evictions and threats of fines worth hundreds of euros if they break the complex’s strict rules, making residents feel afraid, unwelcome and as if they are in ‘prison’ …” (more)
[University Times, 18 October]
“The creation of a dedicated Department for Higher Education earlier this year was met with much fanfare by those in the sector who had been advocating for such a move for years. The existence of the dedicated department has already proven useful, with the Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris already providing increased third-level spaces to deal with the inflated leaving certificate grades and promising to prioritise hot-topic issues such as on-campus sexual assault …” (more)
[University Times, 18 October]
“University College Cork (UCC) Students’ Union has confirmed that an agreement has been reached to issue students who wish to return home from their rented accommodation with a refund. Following a meeting with UCC Campus Accommodation, the union posted the update on social media …” (more)
[Breda Graham, EchoLive, 18 October]
“Fergus O’Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if additional supports will be made available to college students who have paid full college fees but are advised to remain home under Covid-19 guidelines; if supports will be made available for students who have paid accommodation fees up front; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil written answers, 15 October]
“Further answers sought on the ring-fenced funding committed to Mayo GMIT Campus and filling of permanent vice-president role at Castlebar centre. A Mayo TD has sought clarity on the recent correspondence issued to staff working in the Department of Business, Humanities and Technology at the GMIT Mayo Campus in respect of the closure of the facility’s business school …” (more)
[Connaught Telegraph, 18 October]
“My attention was recently drawn to a proposal for a radical overhaul of the research funding system in the Netherlands by the Dutch Academy of Sciences. The document I linked to above is in Dutch but the principles are easily understood. To prevent academics having to waste so much time writing proposals that have a very limited chance of success, it is proposed to introduce ‘rolling grants’ for which no application is needed …” (more)
[In the Dark, 18 October]
“A spokesperson for Cut the Rent TCD, speaking to Trinity News, has confirmed that the activist group will ‘not be able to’ organize a rent strike for the upcoming year. The campaign group was set up last September with an aim to fight the rising costs of student accommodation in Dublin …” (more)
[Shannon Connolly, Trinity News, 18 October]
“The pandemic for me has brought a period of very intense international collaboration. From weekly meetings with academic friends in the US and Europe, a large-scale online conference run as festival over the summer, through to working with the Far Eastern Federal University in Russia on a radically different kind of pedagogy online …” (more)
[Mark Johnson, Improvisation Blog, 18 October]
“The interruption of lectures twinned with a sharp decline in international students has precipitated a cash flow problem for the majority of Irish universities, Trinity not least among them. With Queen’s College Belfast chartering literal planes to fly in foreign students and societies seeing corporate sponsorship dry up, the business model by which Irish universities have coasted on appears to be hitting a fork in the road …” (more)
[Ciaran Brennan, The Burkean, 18 October]
“Trinity Hall – billed by College as ‘an ideal place to make friends and get acquainted’ – has become like a ‘prison’ during the coronavirus pandemic, in which students face threats of severe punishments, evictions and fines worth hundreds of euro for breaking the complex’s strict rules …” (more)
[Jane Cook and Amy Cox, University Times, 16 October]
“After the internet emerged in 1990, universities and scientific institutes across the world became joined in a single collaborative research network for the first time in history, and in the manner of networks, global science began to expand continually with exceptional speed. World research is shaped by five simultaneous trends that feed into each other and are transforming the processes whereby human societies create and share knowledge …” (more)
[Simon Marginson, University World News, 17 October]
