asked the Minister for Education the outcome of her most recent meeting with the National University of Ireland on the abolition/retention of the Matriculation Examination; and if she will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna-Questions. Oral Answers. - Matriculation Examination.
6.
I have arranged to meet the NUI on 25 May. To answer directly the first part of the Deputy's question as to what proposals they have put to me this is the earliest date on which the meeting could be arranged. I would like to put on the record some facts regarding that issue and the matriculation examination.
To date, I have had no formal communication of what the National University of Ireland has in mind concerning its matriculation examination. I am aware only of what has been in the public press, following which my Department sought from the NUI, a copy of their press release but they did not communicate formally to me the result of their meeting.
Our only indication of what the NUI has in mind in this matter has been from what we have read in the newspapers. I am confident that these reports are correct but I am surprised not to have heard directly from the NUI in this regard.
I want to put on record the interpretation the NUI have put on my soundings and my role in the affair. This is that I have engaged in megaphone diplomacy. I have no mandate to order or to demand of the NUI that they withdraw their matriculation examination. That is a matter for themselves but I did make public my belief that the examination should be abolished. Something which was never brought forward by the NUI is that the secretary of my Department conveyed to Dr. Whitaker, Chancellor of the NUI, on 25 January 1989 my support for the abolition of the matriculation examination. I say this because it appears from what we read in the newspapers that their impression was that all they knew about it was what I said on television.
The sEcretary of my Department also told Dr. Whitaker that I would be happy at any time to meet the NUI to discuss any subsequent arrangements that might have to be put in place. The secretary of the Department also met Dr. Whitaker, at my request, and others in February 1988 and discussed the position of the NUI matriculation.
The departmental task force who reviewed admission procedures to third level education recommended that the NUI be requested to discontinue the matriculation examination except in subjects which are not on the leaving certificate programme. The NUI did not consult with my Department before issuing their press release. The Deputy will be aware that requirements for matriculation in the NUI are a matter for the university.
Following that and all the bruhaha and innuendos and, indeed, various statements by spokespersons who say, that I blew it, etc. the Deputy can see that I went about my business correctly and within the parameters in which I can engage. It is a matter now of expectation as to what will be the reforms which the NUI stated they have in mind for the working of the matriculation.
I appreciate the Minister's response to my question. I also appreciate the efforts she has made on this issue and the candour with which she has approached it. May I ask her if she would accept that there is now no educational argument to support the retention of the matriculation by the NUI colleges? Trinity College abandoned the matriculation years ago without any adverse effects on the standards of the college. The eminently successful NIHE colleges have never thought it necessary to use a matriculation examination. That being so, it would appear that there are now no educational arguments to support the retention of that examination. If there are arguments, they ought to be made by the Senate of the NUI, and made now.
Finally, I do not think that young people ought to be used as cannon fodder in any argument which is not an education one.
I want to assist the Deputy to elicit information, but at Question Time we must proceed by way of supplementary question.
Is the Minister prepared to follow through the stance that she has already adopted and to stand up to the Senate of the NUI and put children first?
I am fully prepared to continue with the stance that I have taken. That is why I have asked the NUI to meet me. I regret the rather odd way in which communications have issued, with various statements supposed to be emanating from the NUI. That is why I want to meet them to clear up the matter. I shall be expressing to them when I meet them as I have done personally once, through my Secretary twice, and personally as Minister for Education, that the matriculation examination should be abolished. I repeat that I can do no more. It is up to the NUI to feel the winds of change and respond.
Can we now proceed to other questions? I call No. 7 in the name of Deputy Wyse.