The resignation of the chief executive of the Higher Education Authority 18 months after being appointed should be of concern to Education Minister Richard Bruton.

A Government decision on how to boost funding for third level is unlikely for at least another year as an economic analysis of options put forward two years ago will not now begin until 2019.

The €600m funding shortage predicted in third-level colleges by 2021 could be even higher due to an unexpected rises in student numbers, universities have warned.

University College Cork paid nearly €4.5m to 39 suppliers for goods and services in one year without going through proper procurement, new accounts have revealed.

A fully taxpayer-funded third-level system should be urgently decided on by the Government, thousands of students insisted at a national protest.

Education Minister Richard Bruton will be unable, in next week’s budget, to deliver any long-term outline of a third-level funding model.

Employers are to be given a greater say in the use of the National Training Fund (NTF) which the Government wants them to contribute more to, Education Minister Richard Bruton will announce today.

The Union of Students Ireland (USI) will hold a national day of protest today to put pressure on the Government to find a long-term, publicly financed solution to third-level education funding.

The Union of Students in Ireland expect up to 5,000 students to join their national demonstration march this Wednesday, October, 19.

More than a third of families back a proposal for the funding of third- level education that would mean students pay back loans when they start working.

Ireland ranks among the highest in the world for inter-generational educational disadvantage, international research shows.

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.

Cassells’ report has cleared up the higher education funding landscape but many questions remain, says Brian Lucey.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has laid the blame at local authorities for the delay in building social houses in the Dáil today.

The publication of the long-delayed and much leaked Cassells Report on third-level financing is both welcome and depressing.

Significant increases in the grants paid to students and restoring supports for postgraduate students have been recommended by the expert group on third-level funding.

The urgency of solving the gap in funding of colleges requires more immediate action than awaiting the political consensus sought by Education Minister Richard Bruton, third-level figures have said.

With all attention strongly focused on the possible introduction of income-contingent student loans, Niall Murray examines what they are, how they might work — and at what cost.

Employers’ group Ibec does not object to increasing a levy on business to train people for work once the extra €150m a year is properly spent.

The Cassells report proposed three different options to the higher education funding issues. The option given the most attention, both in the media and in the report itself, is the proposed loan scheme, writes Annie Hoey

€500m a year less is being spent on universities and colleges, though there are more students, and nobody wants to foot the bill, says Niall Murray

CORK Airport Authority (CAA) will officially discuss at the start of next week the €100 million bill it would face under the findings of the Cassells report on the break-up of Aer Rianta.

I SEE that a Shell to Sea delegation recently met Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Minister Eamon Ryan to protest against the terminal and gas pipeline in Erris, Co Mayo.