Minister urged to reverse cuts to third level
The discussion paper by the Nevin Economic Research Institute (NERI) adds pressure on Education Minister Ruairi Quinn to address the problems facing the sector. It has seen a 10% drop in academic staff from 2008 to 2012, while student numbers rose over 12% to 200,000 in the four years to 2013.
Mr Quinn told the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) congress, where the paper was earlier launched, about a range of plans to better measure and direct colleges’ performance against key national objectives. These include requirements for less duplication of courses and fewer colleges, for example, leading teacher training.
The report said that levels of per-student Government funding for third level are now less than a decade ago and have, for the first time, fallen below investment at second level.
“To date, higher education has dealt with these challenges without any evident deterioration in learning outcomes or graduation rates; however, it may take a number of years to fully assess these outcomes,” according to the paper by Austin Delaney and NERI director Tom Healy.
“However, given the extent to which pay has been reduced, working hours increased, support services reduced or outsourced... it is not apparent that significant further economies can be made without implications for research and teaching quality.”
Rather than higher student fees — possibly supported by a loan system — they recommend an increase in public funding for third level, possibly reducing it over a period of years to lower the burden on families of full-time students.
“How much extra will depend on agreed levels of public spending and taxation,” they write.
Mr Quinn reminded USI delegates of his previous apology for not living up to a 2011 pre-election pledge to protect student grants from cuts and not to further increase student contributions. Within months of making the commitment and becoming minister, he announced the student contribution would rise €250 a year to €3,000 in 2015, a figure he said yesterday would not be exceeded as long as he is minister.
Mr Quinn told the conference his pledge was that a Labour government would not increase the student contribution, but “we don’t have a Labour Government, and the commitment was not included in the Programme for Government.” The wording he signed at a USI photocall in February 2011 said: “I, Ruairi Quinn, Education Spokesperson for the Labour Party hereby pledge that if elected, we will oppose and campaign against any new form of third level fees, including student loans, graduate taxes and any further increases in the student contribution.”
He said the NERI paper will be a valuable part of the discussion on third-level funding and repeated his concerns about student loan models, including large rises in personal debt for students in the UK. A report by the Higher Education Authority about who should fund third level, and to what extent, is due with Mr Quinn by the end of the year.
Joe O’Connor, the USI president, said the student loan repayment crisis in the UK shows that investment in higher education is the way forward.
“The research results of the NERI paper reflect the very simple fact that higher education is a public good and there are other options besides making it a private commodity,” he said.
HEA chief executive Tom Boland told USI Congress on Monday that the token inclusion of students in the running of some third-level colleges is unacceptable. He said the organisation is concerned at reports students have not been consulted enough by some colleges in their work to date to decide future strategies. He said it may stem from a culture where student voices are not given enough consideration at governing body level of all colleges.
”As a matter of good governance, all members of a board have a right to express their views and have them fully considered. When the people expressing their views are drawn from the very group that the institution is set up to serve, then the obligation is all the greater,” he said.
But he also asked if students themselves, and student leaders at some colleges, were disengaged, given a response to last year’s pilot survey of student engagement which he said was disappointing, and even lousy in some colleges.
“A dispassionate, outside, observer would have grounds to conclude the student body, and many student leaders, have minimal interest in shaping their colleges or their courses,” Mr Boland said.
