Ninth Level Ireland

“Greater cross-border collaboration on higher education will be fundamental to ‘peace and prosperity’ in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, academics say. A taskforce set up by a pan-Irish learned society, the Royal Irish Academy, calls on the Irish government and the Northern Ireland executive to use closer ties on research and education as a way of overcoming historic political and regional challenges, as well as the problems caused by Brexit and the coronavirus pandemic …” (more)

[Anna McKie, Inside Higher Ed, 24 November]

“Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the recently concluded agreement to include Israel in Horizon Europe until 2027; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 18 November]

“Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if students from universities in Northern Ireland were able to register for Erasmus for the winter semester of the 2021-2022 academic year; if they will be able to register in the summer semester; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 17 November]

“Lobby groups for over 1,000 universities have urged the European Commission to finalize the UK’s association to the EU’s research and innovation program, as Britain remains frozen out over Brexit disputes …” (more)

[Cristina Gallardo, Politico, 4 November]

“Northern Ireland’s universities, schools and colleges can continue to spend money from the EU Erasmus scheme until 2023. However, they can only continue to use money they have already been awarded rather than make fresh funding bids …” (more)

[Robbie Meredith, BBC News, 4 November]

“UK universities are reaping a reverse ‘Brexit dividend’ with a sharp drop in the number of applications from EU students. The news leaves higher education in the U.K. bracing itself for a financial hit from the loss of international students, on top of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic …” (more)

[Nick Morrison, Forbes, 27 October]

“How big a deal is NextGenerationEU – the European Union’s COVID economic recovery plan – for universities? It depends mostly on where the university operates. Most national recovery and resilience plans have been submitted and endorsed by the EU’s institutions, though the scale and contents of these roadmaps differ greatly …” (more)

[Enora Bennetot Pruvot, University World News, 23 October]

“UK scientists are being ‘frozen out’ of the £80bn EU research programme Horizon Europe because of the ongoing dispute over the Northern Ireland Brexit protocol, a House of Lords committee has claimed …” (more)

[Lisa O’Carroll, Guardian, 24 October]

“Higher education institutions applying for Horizon Funding will be required to have Gender Equality Plans in place for proposals with deadlines in 2022 onwards. All organisations applying for Horizon Europe funding must submit a self-declaration at the proposal stage, through a specific questionnaire confirming they have a Gender Equality Plan (GEP) in place …” (more)

[Maura O’Shea, HEA, 14 October]

“Neale Richmond (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the steps being taken to ensure that Northern Ireland is involved in the Horizon Europe research programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil debates, 13 October]

“On the 20th of September, the Biden administration announced they would be lifting the travel ban instated at the outset of the pandemic. For over 18 months, 33 countries including the members of the European Union, India, Iran and China amongst others have faced a blanket travel ban from the US …” (more)

[Rory Fleming, College Tribune, 10 October]

“Universities have seen the number of European Union students halve and a rise in non-EU learners since Brexit, a vice chancellor has said. David Richardson said the University of East Anglia’s EU student numbers had dropped by 50% in 2021, which was the picture ‘across the sector nationally’ …” (more)

[Simon Dedman and Nic Rigby, BBC News, 9 October]

“University chiefs were prepared for the worst when applications from European Union students to study on undergraduate courses in the United Kingdom fell by 43% by the time of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) deadline of 30 June …” (more)

[Nic Mitchell, University World News, 19 August]

Abstract: Using comparable legal information, and empirical data from over 2000 members of the UK’s University and College Union and 2000 staff in universities of the European states, gathered by means of similar surveys, this paper is a comparative assessment of the de jure protection for, and the de facto levels of, academic freedom enjoyed by academic staff in the UK, when compared to their EU counterparts. The paper examines the legal and constitutional protection for academic freedom and the current levels of, and changes to, the two substantive elements (freedom to teach and freedom to research) and three supportive components (autonomy, governance and tenure) of academic freedom. The study reveals that UK academic staff believe that there is a low level of protection for academic freedom and that it has declined, both in general, and with respect to the two substantive elements and three supportive components of academic freedom. Similar trends are evident in the EU states, but statistical tests reveal that for every measure utilised, the decline in academic freedom is significantly greater in the UK than in the EU states.

Terence Karran, Klaus D Beiter and Lucy Mallinson, Academic freedom in contemporary Britain: A cause for concern?’, Higher Education Quarterly, https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12346. First published: 20 July 2021.

“Five years since the Brexit referendum and more than six months since the final deal between the European Union and the United Kingdom was agreed, the final pieces are falling into place when it comes to cooperation between universities on both sides of the Channel …” (more)

[Thomas Jorgensen, University World News, 15 July]

“Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris has said that he expects to publish a report on the European Commission’s analysis on the Cassells report this autumn. The report, which sets out three options for the future funding of Ireland’s higher education sector, was sent to the European Commission in January 2019, when the government applied for economic advice on the report …” (more)

[Emer Moreau, University Times, 13 July]

“Ireland is punching far above its weight when it comes to innovation and third-level education, outperforming the EU average, according to the European Commission’s latest findings. Innovation is broadly defined as developing new methods, ideas, and products to advance civilisation. Examples include researching and developing products all the way to market in fields such as medical devices, an industry in which Ireland has become a global player …” (more)

[Pádraig Hoare, Irish Examiner, 22 June]

“The European Commission has dropped plans for a blanket ban on UK involvement in EU research on space projects and supercomputers after a backlash from member states and leading scientists. Thierry Breton, the former French finance minister who is now the EU internal market commissioner, had claimed the EU needed to keep control of intellectual property and that the UK’s involvement was an unacceptable security risk …” (more)

[Daniel Boffey, Guardian, 7 June]

“NUI Galway Students’ Union has joined students across the country in calling for an end to the extortionate €3,000 Student Contribution Fee. The fee means students in the Republic of Ireland pay the highest undergraduate fees in the European Union …” (more)

[Michael Malone, Galway Daily, 3 June]

“Third level institutions will find it difficult to cater to the demand from Erasmus students who are opting to study in Ireland instead of the UK due to Brexit, the Seanad Special Select Committee on the Withdrawal of the UK from the EU has heard …” (more)

[Aine Kenny, Irish Times, 31 May]