There has been a broad welcome to the news that the Government has ruled out increasing the burden on students

Additional funding and acknowledgement of staff concerns will be vital to the success of the country’s first technological university, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has told Education Minister Richard Bruton.

Thirteen of the 14 institutes of technology have yet to submit an application for the gender equality benchmark needed by the end of next year to be eligible for public research funding.

Doubts have been cast over a proposal by an American university to site a European campus on an Office of Public Works site in west Waterford, with any likely development now expected to be downscaled.

Colleges and universities could be forced to provide compulsory sexual consent classes after a shock report found two-thirds of young women have been pressured into sex or faced crude sexual taunts while on campus.

Employers and unions agree that ringfencing a portion of corporate tax or business profits could be a better way to bolster higher education funding than a government proposal to increase employers’ PRSI.

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.