Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 September 2013
280. Deputy Andrew Doyle asked the Minister for Education and Skills further to Parliamentary Question 223 on 18 July 2013 regarding U-Multirank, if he will confirm that all third level institutions here, universities and colleges, have registered their interest; if he will provide in tabular form which third level institutions have and have not registered to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37133/13]
View answerThe new phase of Multirank was launched by the Commission in Dublin at a major higher education conference on Increasing the Visibility of Quality in Higher Education, held at the end of January. Implementation of this new phase is succeeding very well and it has been confirmed that almost 700 universities and colleges have now registered their interest from right across the EU and from a total of over 70 countries worldwide. I understand that this includes a diverse range of Irish higher education institutions, including both universities and institutes of technology, are represented. As this phase is still under development, a final list of named participants will not be confirmed until the ranking is published. U-Multirank is on the right track to provide a better guide – for governments, institutional leaders, students and employers – to the performance of our higher education institutions and those involved are making enormous efforts to avoid the pitfalls in terms of methodology and biases that are the hallmark of many other ranking systems. I am looking forward to seeing it grow and develop over the years.
