Ninth Level Ireland

“University College Cork (UCC) students have hit out as their college capitation fees will more than double in the next four years. Each year, students must pay a capitation fee to cover the cost of things like membership of the Union of Students Ireland (USI) and recreational facilities and to cover the cost of counselling services …” (more)

[Callum Lavery, Independent, 18 June]

“Access to Education: If you are a local candidate: Will you support fully publicly funded third level education in Ireland; Will you reject any move towards a student loan scheme system in Ireland; …” (more)

[USI, 2 May]

“The Union of Students in Ireland are calling upon the Irish Government to include the right to third-level education in the Higher Education Authority Bill 2020, currently being considered by the Department of Education. This comes after a country-wide student call for access to education, backed up by a motion unanimously passed at USI’s Annual Congress, 2019 …” (more)

[USI, 29 April]

“Ibec, ICTU, USI, American Ireland and British Irish Chamber of Commerce support Irish Universities Association calls for action on funding. The top leadership of the employers union, trades unions, student unions and industry representative bodies have today called for government action on the long-awaited reform of the funding of Irish university and higher education …” (more)

[IUA, 27 April]

“This morning, the Minister for Housing, Eoghan Murphy, presented amendments to the Residential Tenancies bill, which writes into law that students in Purpose Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) will no longer see hikes of above 4% year on year and will fully be able to avail of RTB protections, starting in July …” (more)

[USI, 11 April]

“Delegates from the Technological University of Dublin Students’ Union (TUDSU) have walked out of the Congress of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), following a motion proposed by the USI President to conduct a review of the fee that the national students’ union charges member organisations for affiliation. Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) President Shane De Rís, and Education Officer Aimee Connolly, also walked out in protest …” (more)

[Rory O’Sullivan, Trinity News, 2 April]

“Student groups have welcomed comments from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar which appear to rule out a student loan scheme or increase in fees for higher education. Until now, Mr Varadkar has voiced his opposition to ‘US or UK-style’ student loans schemes but has not ruled out other loan schemes which involve smaller levels of debt …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 27 March]

“Last week, this Editorial Board wrote that it was incumbent on the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) to prove the worth of its new ‘Fund the Future’ campaign, after a year in which higher education funding has often seemed far removed from the union’s list of priorities …” (more)

[University Times, 24 March]

“There will not be enough college places over the coming years to cope with a demographic bulge unless there is more State investment in higher education, campaigners have warned. Third level students and lecturers across college campuses staged lunchtime protests on Thursday to highlight a ‘growing crisis’ in higher education funding …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 21 March]

“Students gathered this afternoon in Front Square calling on the government to invest more money in higher education, with walkouts taking place on campuses all over the country as part of the Union of Students in Ireland’s (USI) Fund the Future campaign …” (more)

[Aisling Marren, University Times, 21 March]

“Students and staff at third level campuses will walk out of lectures this afternoon to shine a light on the growing crisis in higher education funding. Major demonstrations will take place on the main campuses of UCC and CIT as part of the ‘Fund the Future’ campaign, with students set to walk out of classes at 1pm. Students from several other third level institutions will also strike at lunchtime …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 21 March]

“At €3,000 Ireland will have the highest university fees in the EU after Brexit. That is according to the Union of Students in Ireland ahead of a protest today at Dublin’s Trinity College. Third level students and staff will call on the government to respond to the growing crisis in higher education funding …” (more)

[Irish Examiner, 21 March]

“Third level students and lecturers across college campuses are set to stage lunchtime protests on Thursday to highlight what they say is a growing crisis in higher education funding. State funding for third level fell by almost 40% as a result of austerity-era cost-cutting between 2008 and 2015 at a time of rising student numbers …” (more)

[Irish Times, 21 March]

“Research indicates that rape, sexual assault and harassment are mostly hidden problems on our college campuses. A Union of Students in Ireland report in recent years, based on a survey of more than 2,700 students, found 16% of respondents had experienced ‘unwanted sexual contact’ …” (more)

[Irish Times, 20 March]

“Rape and sexual assault at third level is usually hidden. But last autumn, it tumbled out into the open when the Cork Sexual Violence Centre said it had been made aware of three rapes of first-year college students at the start of the academic year …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 19 March]

“Trinity students are among an estimated 10,000 people to march to Dáil Éireann to strike for climate action this afternoon. The students joined a Union of Students in Ireland (USI) – led student bloc under the Schools Strike for Climate Change …” (more)

[Peter Kelly, Trinity News, 15 March]

“The presidents of all third-level students’ unions as well as the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) have come together to call for protests to demand increased funding for colleges in Ireland in an open letter …” (more)

[Ross Malervy, University Times, 11 March]

“At the beginning of each year students across Ireland pay their college and university fees. Incorporated into these lump sums is the standardised €8 membership fee for the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). This organisation purports to represent 374,000 third level students across the island of Ireland. This of course means that it rakes in approximately €3,000,000 per year …” (more)

[Ciarán Fagan, The Burkean, 1 March]

“Student societies have condemned Dublin City University Students’ Union (DCUSU) for showing ‘a clear disregard for democracy and transparency’, after the union executive voted to support disaffiliation from the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) without consulting class representatives …” (more)

[Jack Synnott and Orla Murnaghan, University Times, 23 February]

“On Wednesday 20 February, the Union of Students in Ireland Vice President Michelle Byrne and NUI Galway’s Students’ Union President Megan Reilly spoke in the Oireachtas about the Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure & Rent Certainty) Bill 2018 …” (more)

[Áine Kenny, Irish Times, 22 February]