‘Improve students/lecturers links’

POOR levels of interaction between students and lecturers are impacting on the quality of education at third-level, a student representative has told TDs and senators.

The issue arose in a discussion on third-level curricular reform at the Oireachtas Education Committee as talks continue on the implementation of the Croke Park agreement in higher education, with a major focus on increased contact by academics with their students.

Union of Students in Ireland (USI) education officer Colm Murphy said there should be more interaction with staff inside and outside lecture halls.

“If you have 500 students in a classroom, nobody will raise their hand. There are no stupid questions and a student must be able to ask,” he said.

He raised concerns about an absence of feedback from some academics, as huge numbers of students get exam papers and assignments returned with nothing more than a percentage mark.

“It’s moving in the right direction, and students who have a working relationship with their lecturer can ask for more information, but there are students who aren’t encouraged to do so. Even if you get good marks, if you don’t know what you didn’t do well, how can you learn better in the future,” Mr Murphy asked.

Dr Joseph Ryan, registrar of Athlone Institute of Technology, said colleges are trying to cope with around 4,000 extra students in the last year alone, while staff numbers have to be cut by 6% a year.

University College Dublin’s deputy registrar Professor Bairbre Redmond said efforts are made, particularly in first year, to make sure there are small group tutorials and other learning in smaller groups to give greater opportunities for interactive learning, as part of the effort to retain students.

A recent report for the Higher Education Authority (HEA) showed almost one-in-six students drop out before going into second year of college.

But employers group IBEC expressed particular concern about the impact of performance in Leaving Certificate maths on dropout rates in science, engineering and technology. IBEC’s head of education policy Tony Donohoe said there needs to be more professional development for teachers at primary and second level, particularly as almost half of those who teach second level maths did not have it as the main subject in their teaching degree.