Emergency action urged for third-level funding

An emergency action plan for higher education should be introduced by Education Minister Richard Bruton like the one he implemented for jobs, a leading academic has claimed.

Royal Irish Academy (RIA) president Mary Daly says the sector needs a strong inter-departmental initiative, as past failure to invest in infrastructure has brought higher education to a crisis point.

“No system can sustain a 38% decline in state grants [over the past seven years] and at the same time absorb a 25% increase in student numbers’, Prof Daly said at the RIA’s annual admittance day.