OECD calls for college reform

MAJOR reforms must be made to the governing bodies in universities and institutes of technology to help colleges improve their effectiveness, the OECD has recommended.

As well as suggesting smaller groups with more non-academic representation, the third-level review team from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has proposed a single funding agency for all third-level institutions.

They said the 36-member governing bodies of six Irish universities are too big to play an important strategic role and that the number of lay members is too low.

“We would favour governing bodies of no more than 20 members, including student members, with a significant majority of lay members,” the report says.

It is also recommended that universities should encourage external applications for presidents, and that leadership be distributed rather than concentrated in a single post. They suggest this could be achieved by rotating headship of departments.

The report recommends that the selection of the chairperson of governing bodies at the 13 institutes of technology (ITs) should no longer be decided by the Minister for Education.

“Institutes of technology governing bodies should elect their own chairs, rather than have them appointed from outside,” it states.

The formation of a unified funding group, to be called the Tertiary Education Authority, is also recommended to replace the Higher Education Authority.

This would allow greater collaboration and end the constraints felt by ITs because of their current dependence on the Department of Education for direct funding, approval of appointments and general policy issues.

The OECD recommends the Government make a clear statement that income from overseas students’ fees, short courses for industry or commercial activities should be kept by colleges and not be considered when their public funding allocation is being decided.

The Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU) said the review has identified the under-investment in higher education as a critical national strategic issue and has proposed a coherent set of reforms on which to build national policy and strategy.

“It requires a comprehensive response from Government and any temptation to cherry-pick the findings should be strenuously resisted,” a CHIU statement said.