DIT music courses targeted in cutbacks
DIT president Dr Brendan Goldsmith said there will be cuts to part-time programmes at the institute’s Conservatory of Music and Drama. However, they will be less than the average reductions in other areas.
Dr Goldsmith was responding to angry parents of children studying at the college, who fear they will have nowhere to learn music as a result. The conservatory, formerly DIT College of Music, has 1,450 part-time pupils who are mostly primary and second level students.
Parents for Music spokesman Ciarán Mulloy said they believe the institute plans to phase out first and second level music tuition, without providing any alternatives.
“It is ironic that, having survived through difficult and lean times, and now at a time of plenty, the only affordable access to quality musical education in Dublin will be destroyed,” he said.
While the DIT is facing serious financial constraints because of third level funding cuts, it has still to decide on where cuts will be made.
Dr Goldsmith said the issue will affect the institute’s ability to maintain current levels of music performance tuition for part-time students: “However, initial calculations indicate that reductions in junior music will be somewhat less than the average reductions expected in other areas. Our current enrolment of 1,450 part-time students is very small relative to the population of Dublin and surrounding areas.”
Meanwhile, staff at Cork School of Music are to consider strike action as one of the options to deal with ongoing delays in a new building. The Government is trying to find a way around European budgetary rules to fund the 58 million facility.
Teachers are angry at having to use hotel rooms and other unsuitable facilities since they moved out of the old school 18 months ago. The matter will be discussed at a special meeting of the Teachers Union of Ireland’s Cork Colleges branch tomorrow.
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