I thank the Chair for enabling me to raise this important issue, the decision of the Higher Education Authority to limit the intake of students into all universities both last year and this year and the adverse impact this will inevitably have on education. I appeal to the Minister for Education, Deputy Bhreathnach, to enter into discussions with the Higher Education Authority with a view to having this decision reversed and the quota lifted to enable students to proceed with post-primary teacher training.
This decision was both ill-advised and short-sighted. It was also grossly unfair to the many students who had already undertaken arts degree courses with the clear intention of obtaining a professional teaching qualification and proceeding therefrom to pursue a career in education.
In relation to UCC the quota for 1994 is 185 places. This represents a reduction of almost 50 per cent on the intake for 1993. As 546 people have applied for places it now emerges that 361 graduates have been turned away and their career ambitions have been dashed. Today I spoke with the registrar in UCG where the position is equally critical. Both colleges have the capacity, in terms of staff and other resources, to cater for a much larger number of students who wish to take the Higher Diploma in Education.
The decision of the Higher Education Authority can only be described as arbitrary given that the OECD review of Irish education policy published in 1991, the Green Paper on Education for a Changing World published in 1992 and the report of the National Convention on Education published in 1994 have explicitly recommended further investment in the teaching force. Moreover the decision of the Higher Education Authority contradicts the existing commitment, as detailed in the Programme for Competitiveness and Work and the Programme for a Partnership Government, and makes a nonsense of the Government's stated commitment to reduce the pupil-teacher ratio, introduce new programmes at senior cycle, provide additional career guidance, remedial, home-school-community liaison teachers and additional teachers in certain subjects, specifically science and technology and modern European languages.
This is the first time we have ever said that we will no longer train teachers who might wish to teach abroad. On this historic day we should acknowledge the contribution which has been made by Irish missionary teachers, both male and female, to the development of education in South Africa and to the putting in place of a skilled workforce which will help to make a democratic South Africa a reality. Is the Higher Education Authority now saying that we will never again train a second level teacher who may wish to pursue a teaching career in the third world or to further education abroad? It was a bad decision for teachers and education, both at home and abroad. I appeal strongly to the Minister to enter into discussions with the Higher Education Authority with a view to having the quota lifted and providing places in universities for graduates who wish to pursue a career in teaching and qualify as second level teachers.
