Ninth Level Ireland

“Academics in University College Cork (UCC) have expressed concern about plans to deepen links with a controversial university in China. Fifty academics from the university have signed a letter seeking a detailed report on whether Minzu University in China is linked to human rights abuses against the Uighur people in Xinjiang, and other minority groups …” (more)

[Colm Keena, Irish Times, 25 November]

“The sudden onset of Covid-19 in early March required a rapid re-think of how normal assessment processes would work from home. Temporary measures were put in place to address the added pressure of the pandemic to the summer exam season, but UCC has made the decision to rescind such measures for this academic year …” (more)

[Maeve McTaggart, University Express, 24 November]

“We are living in a world with a growing housing crisis around the student population; something that is troubling to young people, parents, and guardians as a problem once someone reaches third-level education …” (more)

[Conor Capplis and others, College Tribune, 23 November]

“The ESB has urged the Supreme Court to find University College Cork is liable, along with the ESB, for extensive flood damage to buildings on its campus in 2009. Neil Steen SC, for ESB, disputed arguments made on Monday by Paul Sreenan SC, for UCC, that the college should be found to have no liability in relation to the flood damage …” (more)

[Mary Carolan, Irish Times, 23 November]

“Plans by University College Cork (UCC) to substantially boost its student accommodation offering in time for the 2021/2022 academic year have been derailed by Covid-19 restrictions. The delay means the university has missed the target date originally set to complete the 255-bed-space accommodation units at the site of the former Crow’s Nest public house and restaurant in Victoria Cross …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 20 November]

“A major Irish education centre – fully owned by University College Cork (UCC) – has been forced into a spectacular climbdown amid a fight over unpopular restructuring plans responsible for more than a dozen redundancies. The Irish Management Institute (IMI) – bought by UCC in 2016 – finally backed down this week on a refusal to talk to staff with their trade union, promising to enter discussions at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) …” (more)

[Donal MacNamee, Irish Mirror, 18 November]

“Minister for Further and Higher Education and Research Simon Harris has paid tribute to the Tyndall National Institute in Cork after it surpassed more than 100 EU funded awards totalling over €56 million for research projects. Mr Harris said that the Tyndall’s securing of over 100 Horizon 2020 awards totalling some €56.1 million from the EU for research and innovation over the past seven years made it one of the most successful institutes in Ireland for European funding …” (more)

[Barry Roche, Irish Times, 17 November]

“The #RhodesMustFall campaign began in the University of Cape Town in 2015, worked its way through several South African Universities, before rolling to a standstill in Oxford in 2016. It is easy to see why the statue of British imperialist Rhodes fell in Cape Town, and easier still to see why he didn’t in Britain. In a 2014 poll, 59% of Britons thought that the British Empire was something to be proud of, and 49% thought that those countries colonised by Britain had gained more from it than they had lost …” (more)

[Ciaran O’Neill, TheJournal.ie, 17 November]

“The country’s leading management training body, which is wholly owned by UCC, is refusing to engage with a trade union that represents the majority of its staff. The Irish Management Institute (IMI) went through a restructuring in recent months as a result of a major drop in business due to the pandemic …” (more)

[Michael Clifford, Irish Examiner, 17 November]

“Cork’s Tyndall National Institute has succeeded in securing more than €56m in funding as it reaches the milestone of its 100th Horizon 2020 award. It makes the centre one of the most successful institutes in Ireland for European funding …” (more)

[Brian Finn, RTÉ News, 12 November]

“Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour): To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if his attention has been drawn to the fact that management at the Irish Management Institute which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of University College, Cork refuse to engage with a union (details supplied) which represents the majority of IMI staff for the purposes of collective bargaining …” (more)

[Dáil written answers, 10 November]

“As the university campus and accommodations emptied on March 12th upon the announcement of a global pandemic and college closure, the international student population had more decisions to make than the average student – how to get home, and how to return to UCC when or if the need arose. Students from overseas make up 15.6% of the overall UCC student population …” (more)

[Maeve McTaggart, University Express, 10 November]

“A number of universities have told students that there will be no general return to campus for the second half of the academic year. It means that some students may not set foot on the campus for the entire 2020/21 year, with lecture halls remaining silent and students logging on to classes from their bedrooms …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 6 November]

“The news that a mixed-use development on North Main Street has been given the green light has been met with some ambivalence. The street is set for an influx of students in the coming years as a large mixed-use development, which includes student apartments, has been given the green-light …” (more)

[Amy Nolan and Sarah O’Dwyer, EchoLive, 4 November]

“University College Cork (UCC) and Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) are set to benefit from new funding announced by the Minister for Further and Higher Education. Simon Harris has announced that €15m is to be given to higher education institutions for campus upgrade and infrastructure …” (more)

[Steve Nevillen, Irish Examiner, 2 November]

“Permission has been granted for a major student development in the heart of Cork city. BMOR Developments Limited has been given approval to build accommodation to house nearly 280 students on North Main Street …” (more)

[Ryan O’Rourke, Irish Examiner, 2 November]

“University College Cork is considering deepening its relationship with a controversial university in China that the Beijing regime uses to educate students from ethnic minorities, many of whom go on to become Chinese Communist Party officials or cadres …” (more)

[Colm Keena, Irish Times, 28 October]

“One of the great books of Ireland has returned home to Cork, its county of origin, almost five centuries after it was first created. The Book of Lismore, which contains some of the greatest masterpieces of medieval Irish literature, is to return to Cork where it was first penned in the late 15th century …” (more)

[Jess Casey, Irish Examiner, 28 October]

“The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has warned the government that the ‘exploitation’ of student nurses has been intensified by the pandemic. ‘Our students are being taken for granted’, INMO General Secretary, Phil Ní Sheaghdha, said. ‘They are facing huge workloads and risking COVID infection …'” (more)

[Maeve McTaggart, University Express, 27 October]

“International students attending college in Ireland have told the Irish Examiner they feel like they were lured here by universities to generate profit, with many of them now stuck in Ireland unable to return home, and without the campus experience they came here for …” (more)

[Aine Kenny, Irish Examiner, 27 October]