Harsh lessons in economics

THE Lisbon Strategy signed by European leaders in March 2000 set out to make the EU the most dynamic and competitive economy in the world by 2010.

When he announced details of his presidency of the European Council of Education Ministers earlier this month, Noel Dempsey pointed out that one of his key jobs would be to achieve consensus on education and training elements of a review of the strategy.

A major policy of the agreement was that member states should give substantial increases in the amount of public spending per pupil or student at all sectors of education.

Little wonder, then, the heads of our universities are angry at being left short the equivalent of almost €600 for each of their full-time students in the funding allocated to them in the Government’s spending estimates.

“The minister is taking leadership on the issue of Lisbon in relation to education, but his response to the strategy has been an effective shortfall of hundreds of euro per student,” said Michael McGrath, director of the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU).

The group is pressing Mr Dempsey and the Government hard to restore funding, particularly given the €900 million boost to the Exchequer announced by Charlie McCreevy two weeks ago.

“All of a sudden, after the end of a year when everybody was constrained, the Minister for Finance finds an extra 900 million. Some of that could go a long way to helping the third-level sector,” said Mr McGrath.

A major problem for universities, he points out, is that, as vacancies come up, the option is not to fill them.

“But this is opportunistic rather than strategic, and they may end up having reduced numbers of staff in departments that have growing student numbers,” he said.

The funding crisis is a matter of major concern for the country’s 70,000 university students, who are worried that the quality of education they are receiving could be drastically reduced.

Eoin Ó Broin, president of University of Limerick Students’ Union, said the cut in universities’ funding was hypocritical and reckless.

“The Minister for Education’s stated objective of making the EU the most competitive knowledge-based economy shows the hypocrisy of someone who says one thing on the international stage, but wields the knife on education at home,” he said. “The cutbacks are already having major effects, including reduced library opening hours, buildings remaining closed and overcrowding in lectures.

"Further cuts may impact on essential student services, which is totally unacceptable and will hurt the most vulnerable of students.” He said the €900 million surplus and the extended funding to meet benchmarking costs for local authorities suggest the money does exist to make up the shortfalls faced by universities.

Doubtless, these kinds of arguments will be strongly made when a team of education experts from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) visit third-level institutions around the country next month.

They have been asked by Mr Dempsey to conduct an in-depth review of the Irish third-level system, including the methods by which the sector is funded.

They will be visiting third-level campuses and listening to the important views of CHIU and their counterparts in the Council of Directors of the Institutes of Technology.

The financial situation may well re-fuel the debate on the possible need for third-level tuition fees, which Mr Dempsey bravely put forward despite huge political opposition.

However, university bosses are more concerned, for now at least, about the immediate impact that spending cuts in consecutive years are having on college life.

“It’s also had an effect on the competitiveness of Irish universities, which are only midway on OECD performance tables, and this is going to push us further down,” said NUI Maynooth president Dr Seamus Smyth.

Given the financial pressures now associated with the job, he may be glad in many ways that his 10-year tenure on the Kildare campus reaches an end this summer.

“As a sector, we would be willing to suffer our share of cuts, but we’re getting more than our share of cuts. To be told you have to pay an 8% increase in salaries, which make up almost three-quarters of your overall budget, with no additional income, has to be seen as a cut,” Dr Smyth said.

The one thing that all the universities are keen to stress is that the student experience and the education they receive will not be impacted by the spending limitations.

But this looks like a much more difficult promise to keep the longer the status quo is maintained. It is anybody’s guess whether the Government will recognise the plight of those trying to balance the books and dig a little deeper or if further sacrifices will have to be made on the campuses.