28 Samh 2012, 16:48
The Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection this afternoon considered how best to sustain and strengthen Ireland’s universities and institutes of technology in the coming decades.
28 November 2012
The Committee was meeting with representatives from the Higher Education Authority and Department of Education and Skills, who discussed progress on the higher education reform programme. The strategy centres on having smaller numbers of high-quality, well governed institutions that are funded on a sustainable footing and each with a distinct mission to meet a growing diversity of demand and new challenges.
Committee Chair Joanna Tuffy TD says: “Our Committee thanks the Department and HEA officials for a thorough and candid briefing on sustaining our third level education system. Since the financial crisis, the sector has absorbed an increase in the number of students with less money. However, such increases in productivity will not close the gap in the longer term.
“A number of Committee Members suggested that our universities and ITs could work more efficiently through a longer academic year, maximising use of their campuses, increasing online learning and curbing salaries and allowances, which currently accounts for 80 percent of spending. It was also argued that, rather than competing with one another, Ireland’s universities and ITs might take a more co-ordinated approach to ensure the national educational requirements of the coming years are met.”
“Our Committee acknowledges that equipping our growing young population with high quality third level qualifications should be seen, not as a cost, but as an investment in our future. Our Committee heard that simply ‘throwing money’ at third level institutions was no guarantee of positive results and that a coherent strategy, within which universities and ITs are measured against national objectives, was preferable.”
Ends
For further information please contact:
Paul Hand,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Communications Unit,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
F: +3531 618 4551
paul.hand@oireachtas.ie
Committee Membership
Deputies:
James Bannon, Fine Gael
Ray Butler, Fine Gael
Joan Collins, People Before Profit
Clare Daly, Independent
Brendan Griffin, Fine Gael
Simon Harris, Fine Gael
Charlie McConalogue, Fianna Fáil
Nicky McFadden, Fine Gael
Jonathan O'Brien, Sinn Féin
Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Fine Gael
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, Labour Party (Vice Chair)
Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Sinn Féin
Willie O’Dea, Fianna Fáil
Brendan Ryan, Labour Party
Joanna Tuffy, Labour Party (Chair)
Senators:
Jim D’Arcy
Fidelma Healy Eames
Marie Moloney
Marie Louise O’Donnell
Averil Power
Diarmuid Wilson