Ninth Level Ireland

“The Higher Education Authority, in partnership with the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, has announced today a new once-off non-competitive fund for teaching and learning in higher education. The fund aligns strategically the teaching and learning enhancement funding that has been allocated by the National Forum since 2014 …” (more)

[teachingandlearning.ie, 7 June]

“The Minister for Education and Skills Joe McHugh TD, together with the Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD and Minister of State for Training, Skills, Innovation and Research and Development John Halligan TD today announced capital funding of more than €7.5 million for nine Institutes of Technology and the Technological University (TU) Dublin …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 3 June]

“The capacity of higher-education institutions to manage large-scale construction projects has been called into question by a spending review. The review shows major buildings have consistently been delivered late and with cost overruns of tens of millions of euro. The Comptroller and Auditor General report examined 10 projects delivered over the past decade at a cost of €350 million …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 29 May]

“The Higher Education Authority says it has not appointed an inspector to IT Tralee. The institute acknowledged its operational deficit this year will be €2 million; this is down from €2.5million in the 2016/2017 academic year …” (more)

[Radio Kerry News, 23 May]

“A review of teacher training programmes in Ireland has criticised the level of fees charged to students studying to become teachers, and says course changes introduced seven years ago have contributed to the current shortage of post-primary teachers …” (more)

[RTÉ News, 22 May]

“The Higher Education Authority today publishes The Structure of Teacher Education in Ireland: Review of Progress in Implementing Reform. The Review was conducted by Professor Pasi Sahlberg, Professor of Education Policy at the Gonski Institute for Education at the University of New South Wales, Australia, and advised by Professor Áine Hyland, Emeritus Professor of Education at University College Cork …” (more)

[Maura O’Shea, HEA, 22 May]

“There is no row between IT Tralee and Cork Institute of Technology over senior roles in the new joint university. That’s according to the new interim president of IT Tralee, Brendan O’Donnell …” (more)

[Radio Kerry News, 20 May]

“IT Tralee says both it and Cork Institute of Technology remain committed to overcoming challenges as part of a merger to form the Munster Technological University. It follows an article in the Irish Times claiming that external accountants have been appointed to monitor spending at IT Tralee amid growing concern over financial deficits …” (more)

[Radio Kerry News, 17 May]

“Earlier this week politicians gathered to cut the ribbon on the Kerry Sports Academy, a gleaming new facility on the grounds of the Institute of Technology Tralee. The state-of-the-art facility – the largest sports capital project ever to have been undertaken in Kerry – boasts an international-sized indoor sports arena, hydrotherapy suite and high-performance gym …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 17 May]

“Education authorities have appointed external accountants to monitor spending at the Institute of Technology Tralee amid growing concern over financial deficits. The move comes at a sensitive time with plans at an advanced stage to merge IT Tralee with Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) to create a new technological university for the Munster area …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 17 May]

“Is it time we changed the conversation about higher education funding – a conversation that to date has been a dialogue of the deaf? For at least a decade the Higher Education Authority (HEA), informally and formally, has been advising the government about the risks to quality due to recession-related resource cuts and unfunded growth of student numbers …” (more)

[Tom Boland, University Times, 19 April]

“Third-level colleges are under orders to work at making their campuses free from sexual violence and harassment through the implementation of a range of measures, including offering students classes in consent and calling out unacceptable behaviour. A drive to create campuses where everyone feels safe and supported is not a ‘box-ticking’ exercise they have been told …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 5 April]

“All third-level colleges should be obliged to provide classes on sexual consent for students or risk losing State funding, a Government-commissioned report has recommended. The report follows rising concern over the level of rape and sexual assault on college campuses …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 19 March]

“Recent headlines about high dropout rates in technology courses probably caused a wobble among some students currently considering their CAO choices. There are graduate jobs aplenty out there right across the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) spectrum, and they are very well paid. But are they only for a select band of maths geniuses? …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 13 March]

“Sir, – Your article ‘State and students “should bear cost” of third-level education’ (News, March 4th) raises questions as to why the Higher Education Authority decided to ask the public how higher education should be funded and on the methodology of the opinion poll …” (more)

[Joan Donegan, Irish Times, 8 March]

“The HEA commissioned Kantar Millward Brown to conduct a survey of public perceptions of Irish higher education. This was conducted in September, 2018, in 64 sampling points with a sample size of 1,008. The purpose was for us to understand how the public view higher education and research …” (more, download)

[Malcolm Byrne, HEA, 1 March]

“The public believes the State should pay at least half the share of third-level education fees, with a quarter funded by students and their families and the remaining balance from businesses. They are the findings of a poll of more than 1,000 adults conducted by the Higher Education Authority into public perceptions of the third-level system …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 4 March]

“Lecturer Greg Foley could scarcely believe what he was seeing when marking his students’ lab reports recently. ‘Some of the stuff I was grading was the worst I’d ever seen – even from good students. They just couldn’t see the rubbish they were handing up’, says Foley, an associate professor at Dublin City University’s school of biotechnology …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 25 February]

“The recent Higher Education Authority analysis of completion rates offers many grounds for congratulation among undergraduate students: overall the figures compare well with international benchmarks. But they raise some important issues, especially given relatively higher dropout rates in institutes of technology and in IT courses …” (more)

[Ellen Hazelkorn and Tom Boland, Irish Times, 19 February]

“Sir, – Third-level institutions must take some responsibility for the high drop-out rate at college level. Does the Higher Education Authority monitor the quality of lecturing, the lecture content and the exam processes of these institutions? …” (more)

[Kathleen Barton, Irish Times, 19 February]