Ninth Level Ireland

“The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul has said it expects to spend more than €200,000 in Cork by November this year, on assisting people in third-level education. South West Regional coordinator for SVP Gerry Garvey told The Echo that the organisation has seen a big increase over the last year in the number of people reaching out for help with back-to- education costs …” (more)

[Roisin Burke, EchoLive, 26 August]

“In numerous rants about Open Access on this blog I’ve made the point that because of the arXiv the field I work in is way ahead of the game. Most researchers in astronomy astrophysics and cosmology post their papers on the arXiv, and many do that before the work has been accepted for publication. Even before the arXiv we used to circulate preprints ahead of publication …” (more)

[In the Dark, 26 August]

“When Graham Love resigned as the Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) last August, he took with him a hatful of grievances about the administration of Irish third-level. Love, who fretted throughout his tenure about autonomy issues for higher education institutes, has since fired a series of revealing potshots at a government he says ‘actively ignored’ much of the HEA’s advice while he was in charge …” (more)

[University Times, 25 August]

“It is not an unreasonable request that students be informed what classes they are taking, where those classes will be held, and what times they will be required to attend the classes. Students have always needed to know this information, right back through the four centuries of Trinity’s existence. College knows, with every approaching September, that it is necessary to publish the timetables for each course before the semester begins …” (more)

[Jack Kennedy, Trinity News, 25 August]

“Figures released this week, showing that over half of Irish students skip classes for work, will hardly have come as a surprise to anyone. While we may not have had the official statistics before, the anecdotal evidence on this has long been readily available. Perhaps the only shocking thing about this latest study is that it confirms once and for all just how ubiquitous the practice has become …” (more)

[University Times, 25 August]

“A ‘malevolent concoction’ of technology, intolerance and populism is poisoning debate and emboldening dark and destructive forces, president of the University of Limerick Des Fitzgerald has said. Speaking at a conferring ceremony on Sunday, he said long-held views on what constitutes normal institutional and political behaviour are being tested in a way unimaginable a few years ago …” (more)

[Colm Keena, Irish Times, 25 August]