Ninth Level Ireland

“Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the rationale for charging fees of over €15,000 per year for graduate entry medicine courses, which means that many students who finish the course leave university with loans of up to €100,000, and in turn results in emigration and exacerbates staff shortages in medicine; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 15 December]

“Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the measures he has taken to urge universities to compensate postgraduate students for the move to online teaching and the much-reduced student experience promised in their prospectus and marketing campaigns; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil debates, 15 December]

“Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the practice of postgraduate students being expected to do unpaid teaching hours …” (more)

[Dáil debates, 15 December]

“Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the instructions, guidelines or recommendations made to institutions participating in the graduate medical programmes to support and facilitate the participation of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds given SUSI is not available; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 8 December]

“Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) Council has voted in favour of a campaign to lobby the government to increase financial support for Graduate Entry Medicine students. Delegates from TCDSU who attend the Union of Students In Ireland (USI) National Council and USI Congress are to put forward motions at meetings of those bodies to establish a nationwide USI campaign to lower GEM tuition fees …” (more)

[Audrey Brown, Trinity News, 24 November]

“All full-time third-level students are to receive a €250 payment in the coming year to help compensate for the move towards greater online learning. It is one of a number of education measures set to be unveiled in Budget 2021 including the hiring of 565 additional teachers to bring the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level to a record low …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 13 October]

“Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the use of postgraduates in precarious positions for teaching and other duties is increasing in NUIG and that the university expects postgraduate workers to carry out unpaid teaching; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that postgraduates at NUIG have declared their intention to refuse to carry out work which is not remunerated at the existing collectively bargained rate; and the steps he will take to meet the demands of postgraduate workers (details supplied) …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 1 October]

“Thinking through the implications of Friday’s announcement for teaching I saw the following advice sent out to students from Maynooth University: ‘For the next few weeks most lectures will move online. You will be invited on-campus for practical classes, tutorials and for the teaching which requires a lot of interaction …'” (more)

[In the Dark, 27 September]

“Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to communications from NUI Galway to postgraduate research students for them to undertake unpaid teaching contributions; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 24 September]

“The Post-Graduate Workers’ Alliance at the National University Ireland Galway (PGWA NUIG) sent an open letter to the college president Donal Leech and the Minister for Further Education Simon Harris last night, affirming that they refuse to perform any unpaid labour for the college …” (more)

[Connie Roughan, Trinity News, 25 September]

“Postgraduate students at NUI Galway (NUIG) are refusing to carry out the university’s required 120 hours of unpaid teaching, with the Postgraduate Workers Alliance NUIG describing it as ‘exploitative and unjust’ …” (more)

[Molly Furey, University Times, 23 September]

“Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will raise the threshold for postgraduate SUSI grants to allow for the economic uncertainty due to Covid-19 …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 21 July]

The full (draft) Programme is here; extracts related to third level are here.

“Last month, over 1,100 University College Dublin (UCD) students signed a petition calling for a partial refund of their fees for the 2019/2020 academic term. Two-thirds of the petitioners are postgraduate students, and just over half are doing a one-year masters degree. UCD currently refuses to grant refunds to any students …” (more)

[Meadhbh Park and Blathnaid Corless, College Tribune, 9 June]

“NUI Galway’s Postgraduate Workers Alliance launched a petition this week calling for ‘a fair working environment and Covid-19 response’ for PhD and post-doctoral researchers at the university …” (more)

[Kernan Andrews, Galway Advertiser, 21 May]

“Following major backlash from postgraduate students, Trinity’s Finance Committee has confirmed the restoration of pay rates for casual staff to their previous levels. Last month, The University Times reported that Trinity’s casual workers – including many TAs and postgraduate students – were facing pay cuts of almost 20% for their teaching duties …” (more)

[Alex Connolly, University Times, 3 March]

“Trinity has rowed back on its decision to cut the hourly teaching pay of students and staff employed on a casual basis, hours after postgraduates protested against the reduction outside a meeting of the College’s Finance Committee. The decision was made at today’s meeting of the committee, as nearly 80 postgraduate students protested against the pay cuts outside House One …” (more)

[Donal MacNamee and Cormac Watson, University Times, 4 February]

“SIPTU and the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have launched a Charter of Rights and Conditions for Postgraduates which calls for a living wage, better access to supports and training as well as other improvements for those who carry out teaching and other work in third level institutions across the country …” (more)

[SIPTU, 30 October]

“Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the position with regard to the restoration of post-graduate grants; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 22 January]

“More than two in five postgraduate research students have seriously considered dropping out of their degree, mainly because of financial or personal issues, a major national survey reveals. The study of nearly 3,000 masters, PhD, or other students on postgrad research programmes found that more than 61% are fully or partly funded by a scholarship, but the figure drops to 57% if non-Irish students are excluded …” (more)

[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 20 November]