Universities insist they need greater flexibility around staffing and more public money to deliver the changes needed to meet the Government’s ambitions for the education system.

By Joe Dermody

The country’s third-level colleges are due to receive a significant overhaul thanks to more than €250m extra being allocated under the Government’s revised capital spending plans.

Colleges plan to offer places to around a dozen students whose applications to become primary teachers were turned down in August, thanks to the retrospective easing of entry requirements by Education Minister Richard Bruton.

Education Minister Richard Bruton has urged more colleges to take pressure out of the points system by reducing the number of courses from which to choose for students.

Managers of colleges which fail to give up-to-date accounts or explain how much money they have in private trusts and foundations by the next budget should be hit with significant financial penalties and fines.

Third-level colleges have to investigate charges ranging from cheating in exams to bullying and harassment. A 2015 case in Dundalk has led to a student being expelled, writes Noel Baker

TDs and Senators will not begin considering where the €1bn needed to secure the future of the third-level education system should come from until next month at the earliest.

Several important education agencies and colleges have had no board or no chairman for several months, in some cases for over a year.

A new group of private schools and colleges is making a complaint against the State over what it calls "anti-competitive practices."