Colleges ‘too conservative’ on merger plans

Colleges have been accused of being too conservative in their proposals for future collaboration, almost two years after Government strategy to overhaul the sector.

At the same time, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has ruled out as too radical recommendation of international experts on a series of third-level mergers.

A Higher Education Authority analysis of submissions from the colleges says that they are too conservative, focusing on their individual futures instead of system-level requirements or the overall system coherence it envisaged in a blueprint for the sector in February.