Decision time - Funding third level

AN OECD report shows that the pay advantage Irish college graduates enjoy over workers without third-level qualifications is greater than in most developed countries. It will reopen the debate around how we fund third-level education.

Just as another college year begins, these matters, as they have for many years, remain unresolved.

Overcrowded colleges warn that they cannot, on current income levels, provide the quality of education necessary to maintain the integrity of the system. Students — and their families — begin their college life with an unnecessary degree of uncertainty. Foreign investors wonder if our system can continue to supply a flow of reliable employees.

There is probably a report on the question for every third-level institution in the country. Advice and options are not in short supply. Everyone understands that politicians must sometimes make unpopular decisions.

This is one such case — it is long past the time to make a decision and introduce some badly needed certainty on

third-level funding.