Third-level staff and students call for extra funding

Third-level lecturers and students have insisted serious funding problems in Ireland’s colleges and universities must be addressed if the system is to cope with future demand.

Speaking after the launch of the first ever Higher Education System Performance report, the Teachers’ Union of Ireland, the Irish Federation of University Teachers, and the Union of Students in Ireland, said extra investment was needed if standards are to be maintained.

While all bodies acknowledged the Higher Education Authority’s findings that recession-era staff “flexibility” was protecting education levels, they said this cannot be relied on indefinitely.