€900m boost for third-level institutions

THERE is to be a major increase in third-level funding as well as the creation of a new “fourth level” of learning as part of a strategy to ensure a skilled and well-educated workforce.

Finance Minister Brian Cowen also outlined a funding system designed to bring about greater co-operation between all third-level institutions, saying it made no sense for colleges to be competing with each other.

Capital funding of €900 million will be made available to the third-level sector over the next five years. Of this, €630m will come from the exchequer, with €270m in Public Private Partnership funding.

Calling for reform of universities and colleges, Finance Minister Brian Cowen said improving and expanding the PhD sector was a robust response to demands for high-calibre graduates.

He said the five-year, €300m funding package for the Strategic Innovation Fund for higher education would stimulate excellence through competition and change.

“A major initiative within this budget is a commitment to the establishment of a new PhD level of education, a fourth level.”

Mr Cowen said the funding was a robust response from the Government to the need to protect Ireland’s reputation for graduates at the highest calibre.

“Our edge in education is being challenged not just by the established sources of excellence but also by emerging nations across the globe. This Government believes such a programme is fundamental to our economic and social development,” the minister said.

“It is my belief that the single biggest contributor to our economic success has been the exceptional wealth of intellectual capital available to both our indigenous and overseas investors.”

This was given an enthusiastic welcome by the Institutes of Technology, who described it as “a particularly welcome initiative”.

Tom Collins, chairman of the Council of Directors of the Institutes of Technology, said: “The broad shape of the funding initiatives will allow the Institutes to plan and develop for an exciting future.”

This brings planned investment in capital spending and the Strategic Innovation Fund for third-level to €1.2 billion over the period 2006 to 2010.

Mr Cowen said: “These strands of planned investment in higher education form a core element of the Government’s strategy for developing skills and competencies. This will be an important element of the investment strategy for the new National Development Plan.”

However, the minister was at pains to stress the need for greater co-operation between third-level colleges if the fourth tier is to become a success.

“To achieve what we have to achieve will require a commitment to substantial change in all our third-level institutions,” he said.

“We must strip out unnecessary duplication. There must be an appetite from within the sector itself for greater collaboration. This is a small country. It is not sensible to have our third-level institutions pitched against each other across all key disciplines.

“Instead, what we need is the promotion of a system- wide collaboration that can draw on the collective strengths of all of our third-level institutions.”