Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 11 Apr 2000

Vol. 517 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Institutes of Technology.

Mr. Noonan:

The Limerick Institute of Technology is an excellent college which has provided great service to students not only from Limerick and the mid-west but from all over the country. Like many of the institutes of technology it specialises in technological subjects and again, like the other institutes, it has been one of the main contributors to supplying the highly skilled workforce we now have driving forward the Celtic tiger economy.

Unfortunately, a controversy has arisen which resulted today in the entire student body leaving lectures and going into a full protest at the college. They stated they will not return until the difficulties faced by certain students doing an architectural technology degree course are resolved. These students entered the college two years ago and started off with a difficulty as the course advertised in the college prospectus was changed at the point when students send in their change of mind forms to the colleges. Many of them were not aware of the change from that advertised in the prospectus.

Up to 1998 the students did three full years, effectively becoming master technicians at drawing, both manually and with computers. Computer aided design was their speciality and they were much sought after by architectural practices throughout these islands. The course was so highly thought of that the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland gave seven successive silver medals to graduates of this course.

A change was made and the first year was given over to management theory while the second year has become a drawing year. Students are expected to go out on placement for the third year, but they feel they should spend third year doing what they are interested in, a year of drawing practice within the college, with something similar in fourth year. The difficulty is that the students are supported by the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland, which has withdrawn recognition of the course. They are left in a situation where they are pursuing a course they did not sign on for in the first place and where recognition by the institute representing their prospective employers has been withdrawn. There is another difficulty in that a Scottish university, Heriot-Watt, awards degrees after fourth year of this course and there seems to be a conflict between what the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland requires of its future employees and what the university requires in terms of a degree course. The controversy has gone on intermittently for a number of years. The students are at the end of their second year and the controversy reached a high point when, for reasons which are difficult to explain, they were suspended by the college. They were under the impression they were suspended indefinitely but the college authorities explained it was a one day suspension.

All attempts to resolve the dispute have failed. It escalated today when the general body of students joined the architectural technology degree students. It has become, in trade union parlance, an official dispute because the students' union is supporting it. I ask the Minister to get involved. The dispute has been going on locally for two years and I do not believe it will be resolved locally. Will the Minister accede to the students' request for a meeting and to send a person of goodwill to the college, someone with skills of arbitration, conciliation and fecilitation, so that a problem which has escalated out of all proportion can be amicably resolved?

These students fear for their future. They have invested a great deal in their careers. They see their hopes being dashed as prospective employers refuse to acknowledge their qualifi cation. A great sourness has entered the debate and I ask the Minister of State to impress on the Minister for Education and Science the importance of direct intervention so this dispute can be quickly resolved.

Mr. Treacy:

I am grateful to the Deputy for raising this issue and for the opportunity it affords me to clarify the position. As the issues raised are matters for which the institute has responsibility under the relevant Acts, it would be useful if I set out the legislative position on the governance and management of institutes of technology.

Under the Regional Technical Colleges Acts, 1992 to 1999, the governing body and the director of an institute of technology are responsible for the management and control of the affairs of the institute.

Under the Act it is a function of the institute to provide such courses of study as its governing body considers appropriate, subject to the annual programme and budget approval process laid down in the Act.

The Act also requires each institute to have an academic council appointed by the governing body to assist in planning, co-ordination, development and overseeing the educational work of the institute and to protect, maintain and develop the academic standards of the courses and activities of the institute. The functions, which the academic council has under the Act include the following: to design, develop and assist in implementing courses of study in accordance with the programmes and budget approved annually and to make recommendations to the governing body for the selection, admission, retention and exclusion of students.

With regard to the matter raised in relation to Limerick Institute of Technology, I understand the issue arises from changes introduced by the institute in its course in architectural technology as a result of a restructuring of the course. As I have outlined above, such modifications or alterations to a specific course in an institute of technology arise in the context of the normal process of academic planning and review in such higher education institutions. The position, therefore, is that the Minister for Education and Science has no function under the Act in such academic matters. Similarly, in regard to the issue of student discipline, under the Act this is also a matter entirely for the institute and it would be inappropriate for the Minister for Education and Science to intervene in an institute's handling of such internal operational matters.

From recent publicity, the Minister is aware of the situation which arose in the Limerick Institute of Technology and which resulted in a number of students being suspended. As a result, his Department has been in contact with the management of the institute and has been informed as follows. The institute has indicated to the Department of Education and Science that no student has been expelled. A group of students from the second year of the BSc in Architectural Technology course were suspended for one day on Friday, 7 April, for failing to accept an instruction to leave an administrative area of the institute. Students were free to return to class on Monday, 10 April and the president of the students' union was so informed. The question of readmission does not, therefore, arise.

In regard to the course in question the institute has informed the Minister for Education and Science of the following: the course of BSc in Architectural Technology has the formal recognition at degree level of Heriot-Watt University; the course is the result of recommendations of external examiners and feedback from former students and without the implementation of their recommendations continuation of degree recognition would not be possible; and institute management met student representatives on Monday and updated and reassured them as to the recognised status of the course.

The situation which arose recently in Limerick Institute of Technology and which the Deputy has raised here today is a matter for the institute to resolve. I am confident that the institute will do its utmost to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion for all concerned. Having listened with great interest to Deputy Noonan's contribution, I will refer the matter to the Minister for Education and Science to see if progress can be made to allow students return to normal life and pursue their education at a vital time for them.

The Dáil adjourned at 9.05 p.m. until 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday, 12 April 2000.