“The University of Limerick (UL) has revealed that it hopes to re-open at the end of September – but new students may not arrive until November. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the college’s campus in Castletroy has only had extremely limited access, with all teaching now taking place online …” (more)
[Nick Rabbitts, Limerick Leader, 30 April]
“Tens of thousands of university students are set to start the new academic year later than normal this year with most lectures continuing to take place online due to the Covid-19 threat. Many colleges are also considering suspending Erasmus programmes due to travel restrictions, which typically see thousands of students study abroad at other higher education institutions in the European Union …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 30 April]
“Last November, a paper of mine got an impossible-to-do R&R by an academic (ethics/political philosophy) journal – it amounted to a de facto rejection, except if I was willing to write a very different paper. The paper had been rejected before, and I was at a point where I wasn’t sure what to do with it …” (more)
[Ingrid Robeyns, Crooked Timber, 30 April]
“‘Unprecedented’, ‘things will never be the same’, ‘Covid-19 is a deadly virus’, ‘these are uncertain times’, ‘wash your hands’, ‘the safety of our customers is our highest priority’ – I am getting fed up hearing people stating the obvious. We already know all this – but why do people online, in meetings, in calls, in the media feel the need to say this stuff over and over? …” (more)
[Careful With That Axe, Eugene, 30 April]
“This week: I share one expert’s ideas on how professors can move beyond trying to replicate their face-to-face teaching online; I describe one start-up’s answer to Zoom fatigue; I share how one writing instructor is encouraging students to see their place in history; I pass along a few ways professors have tried to make the last day of class special …” (more)
[Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, 30 April]
“The Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan and President Michael D Higgins have sent messages of congratulations to over 130 new doctors who have graduated from the University of Limerick. The final year students at the Graduate Entry Medical School (GEMS) are UL’s first ever cohort of students to be conferred remotely in absentia due to the Covid-19 crisis …” (more)
[David Hurley, Limerick Leader, 29 April]
“Before the lockdown, Hank Traynor was involved in providing safety training on building sites. In recent weeks, he’s become one of hundreds of people to complete upskilling courses at his local further education college on how to reduce the threat posed by coronavirus …” (more)
[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 30 April]
“Junior Cycle students will not have to sit exams in the autumn, Education Minister Joe McHugh confirmed today. The only exception are adults who have returned to education to study a subject or subjects at Junior Cycle level, for whom specific arrangements will be made to sit exams early into the next academic year …” (more)
[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 29 April]
“The Irish Universities Association welcomes the announcement of €5 million in funding grants to key COVID-19 research and innovation projects by Minister Heather Humphreys today. 26 ground-breaking research projects have been funded today (26th April), 21 by the Health Research Board/Irish Research Council and a further 5 by the Science Foundation Ireland/Enterprise Ireland/IDA Ireland …” (more)
[IUA, 29 April]
“So far, I’m not a big fan of the situation that Covid-19 has forced us all into replacing end of semester exams with assignments/projects. Exams designed to assess learning outcomes are not being used, and it has not been easy coming up with replacements in the form of an assignment to to the same thing …” (more)
[Careful With That Axe, Eugene, 29 April]
“The Government must begin consulting with colleges, staff and students in order to avoid escalating uncertainty and the threat of ‘enrolment chaos’ in the autumn, the Irish Federation of University Teachers has warned. The federation’s general secretary Joan Donegan said students and university teachers are being left in an ‘ongoing limbo’ amid the uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic …” (more)
[Éanna Ó Caollaí and Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 29 April]
“A question on the minds of many executives at scientific and scholarly societies is whether it will be possible to hold a large in-person meeting (or any gathering over a hundred people) before a vaccine or drug is widely available or the pandemic otherwise subsides …” (more)
[Michael Clarke, The Scholarly Kitchen, 29 April]
“The President of NUI Galway has said significant investment in profound research focused on helping human health and well-being during the current health emergency will be announced today by the Taoiseach. Professor Ciarán Ó hÓgartaigh said the funding will support medical, technical and social research projects specifically focused on Covid-19, a number of which are based at NUI Galway …” (more)
[RTÉ News, 29 April]
“Concerns over student accommodation in Galway have been raised after NUI Galway unveiled radical changes to the upcoming academic year, due to Covid-19. The university has announced that returning students will commence their studies on the 28th of September – three weeks later than the usual date …” (more)
[Connacht Tribune, 28 April]
“The population of Derry has been asked to come together to make a concerted ‘shout out’ for the Magee Medical School, with just one month left to enable it to open next year. The call for the loud voice from the city came from SDLP Foyle MLA Sinead McLaughlin …” (more)
[Derry Now, 28 April]
“This was supposed to be a big year for Einat Lev. She planned to do field work in Hawaii and Alaska, submit a major research proposal, then finish writing the last of five papers necessary for her tenure application. In September, she would finally go before the review committee, the final step to becoming a full-fledged associate professor of seismology at Columbia University …” (more)
[Caroline Kitchener, The Lily, 24 April]
“An urgent plan to safeguard the Irish third-level sector from serious financial fallout due to the Covid-19 crisis must be a top priority for the Government. That is the warning as Irish universities face potential revenue losses running into the hundreds of millions due to the Covid-19 crisis …” (more)
[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 28 April]
“UCD Students’ Union (SU) have retained all their staff since the temporary closure of their shops on campus, despite losing all shop income. In a statement today, the SU has responded to an article published in the University Observer, the SU’s own newspaper, highlighting that although pay cuts have been made, they have ‘not laid off a single member of [their] staff’, keeping all 41 on the payroll …” (more)
[Conor Capplis, College Tribune, 28 April]
“Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today told Trinity’s graduating medicine students that they’ll play a vital role in battling the coronavirus pandemic, in an online graduation ceremony held so students can join the frontlines in the next month …” (more)
[Donal MacNamee, University Times, 28 April]
“More than two in five prospective international students have no interest in studying their degree online amid Covid-19, a survey suggests. The proportion of students who have changed their plans to study in the UK and deferred their entry by a year rose between February and March, according to findings in a think tank report …” (more)
[Eleanor Busby, Belfast Telegraph, 28 April]
