Ninth Level Ireland

“Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, TD, has today announced five performance funding awards totalling €5 million to higher education institutions in recognition of positive performance in working towards national strategic objectives. Each award is valued at €1 million …” (more)

[Maura O’Shea, HEA, 23 September]

“I’m guessing that even the most ardent of UK wonks haven’t been eagerly awaiting the the announcement from the Alberta (Canada) Government of its hotly-anticipated performance based funding system for tertiary institutions. Maybe they should have been …” (more)

[Jim Dickinson, Wonkhe, 22 January]

“The HEA wish to announce the allocation of €5m in Performance Funding for 2019 following the submission of Impact Assessment Case Studies from Higher Education Institutions in September …” (more)

[Laura Austin, HEA, 26 November]

“Last month, UK prime minister Theresa May announced a major review of the UK tertiary education system, with a focus on driving up access, quality, choice and value for money. The Irish experience is worth looking at in terms of how it is bringing about such change …” (more)

[Ellen Hazelkorn, Times Higher Education, 15 March]

“The phrase ‘a recipe for disaster’ comes to mind while reading through Department of Education and Skills proposals to alter the funding regime for our higher education institutions. Last week it released its Higher Education System Performance Framework 2018-2020, a plan to link the funding of higher education to being able to achieve the delivery of ‘key national priorities’ …” (more)

[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 25 January]

“Some years ago, when I was still President of Dublin City University, I attended a meeting between Irish government officials and university heads to discuss national higher education strategy. At one point the conversation focused on university autonomy. Everyone agree that such autonomy is vital for an internationally successful higher education system; but what exactly did ‘autonomy’ mean? It quickly became clear that each of the the two groups had a very different understanding of the term …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 15 January]

“The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has called for the issuing of a comprehensive plan for development of third-level education by government instead of piecemeal announcements that perpetuate uncertainty and underfunding. The announcement by Minister for Education, Richard Bruton, of financial penalties for misconduct, filing late accounts or giving misleading reports of governance issues do not constitute reform to higher-education funding …” (more)

[Irish Federation of University Teachers, 15 January]

“Ibec, the group that represents Irish business, today broadly welcomed the significant reforms announced by Government to link higher education funding to the delivery of key national priorities. Implementation of these reforms with committed resources must be a Government priority for 2018 …” (more)

[IBEC, 15 January]

“The Irish Universities Association (IUA) welcomes the publication of the Expert Panel Report on the Review of the Allocation Model for Higher Education Funding. The government has set out its initial response and we look forward to working with the Department of Education and Skills and the Higher Education Authority to develop the detailed implementation of these high level objectives …” (more)

[Irish Universities Association, 15 January]

“The Higher Education Authority welcomes the publication today of the Review of the Allocation Model for Funding Higher Education Institutions and the Higher Education System Performance Framework 2018–2020 by the Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton TD, and Minister for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD …” (more)

[Maura O’Shea, Higher Education Authority, 15 January]

“The Minister for Education and Skills, Richard Bruton TD and the Minister of State for Higher Education, Mary Mitchell O’Connor TD today announced reforms which will link funding of higher education institutions to the delivery of key national priorities, including better alignment to skill needs of the economy, higher levels of performance and innovation, expansion of research; particularly with enterprise partners, better access for students at a disadvantage and improving lifelong and flexible learning opportunities …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 15 January]

“Funding for further education courses is to be linked with high performance under a new funding model to be rolled out shortly. More than 200,000 people participate in further education courses each year, including school-leavers and adults seeking ‘second chance’ education. However, in a report over the summer the Department of Public Expenditure found there was a ‘fragmented’ and “disjointed” approach to the way more than €800 million was being spent in the sector …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 11 October]

“Government funding for Australian universities could soon be based more on how students perform – including academic results, whether they complete uni and get a job – and less on the number of students universities manage to enrol …” (more)

[Andrew Harvey, The Conversation, 3 April]

“Third-level colleges will have to meet performance targets to secure additional funding under plans being drawn up by Minister for Education Richard Bruton. Colleges’ capacity to meet skills gaps in the economy will be crucial to future funding, as will their ability to increase participation rates among disadvantaged students …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 11 July]

“The quality of the higher education system is vital to creating jobs, raising living standards and giving Ireland an edge in the global marketplace. Yet until now, we have had no clear picture of how colleges are performing …” (more)

[Irish Times, 18 March]

“Sir, – So, three colleges are to be fined for not reaching standards. Who pays? The taxpayer. Who suffers? The students and teachers …” (more)

[Cal Hyland, Irish Times, 17 March]

“Dundalk Institute of Technology has responded to the publication of a report by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) on performance in the higher education sector. The report identified that DkIT was performing well in many areas but that the Institute lacked strategic focus and was trying to do too much with too few resources …” (more)

[Talk of the Town, 16 March]

“… I am familiar with some of those institutions and I cannot imagine how removing funding will improve things given the impacts of funding decreases across the past decade …” (more)

[The Cedar Lounge Revolution, 16 March]

“The Higher Education Authority (HEA) have today published the outcome of its institutional strategic dialogues. The outcome of these reviews is linked to the performance funding process for Higher Education Institutions. Three Institutions, which did not meet the agreed performance level, now face a potential funding penalty …” (more)

[Department of Education and Skills, 15 March]

“Three colleges which have performed poorly in a new assessment process for the higher education sector face financial penalties running into hundreds of thousands of euro. Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Dundalk Institute of Technology and the National College of Art and Design have been warned they risk losing €1 million in State funding unless they tackle deficiencies in a number of areas …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 15 March]