Emphasis on university research ‘to blame for lower teaching standards’

STUDENTS are getting lower quality teaching because universities are too focused on international rankings based on research and other income sources, SIPTU has warned.

The union represents more than 3,000 academic, administrative, library and other staff who have raised concerns about what they describe as a macho, top-down management style in universities and a move towards commercialisation.

In a policy document to be launched at its annual conference today, SIPTU is seeking changes in how academic achievement is measured.

It says that the importance of research is emphasised at the expense of teaching. The union claims there are greater chances of promotion for those who concentrate on research than for those who focus on teaching, and that, where teaching retains an important place, it is increasingly where it is the focus of research.

SIPTU education branch organiser Chris Rowland said lecturers are being overloaded with paperwork.

“Students are going to lose out because everything is going to be based on getting people through the system and a focus on where money can be drawn in for research. We have no problem with Irish universities aspiring to be among the world’s best but the institutions they’re being measured against are in a different scenario,” said Ms Rowland.

She said third-level education has been under pressure from drastic spending cuts from Government, but university chiefs must make a stronger case to improve investment.

“Otherwise, they must increasingly go to the private sector for funding and end up carrying out research for the benefit of companies and not for society,” she said.

SIPTU points to the bias against the arts, humanities, and social sciences in the Sunday Times and Shanghai Jiao Tong university ranking systems, which rely heavily on citations of a college’s research but largely exclude references to books written by academics.

The universities are lobbying for a substantial increase in non-research funding to help improve teaching and undergraduate services, but have argued that a return to tuition fees is necessary if the investment is not made by Government.

Ms Rowland said this would be strongly opposed but that fees are already being brought in through the back door with students facing registration charges of almost €1,000 a year.