Cuts a threat to economic development

GIVEN the importance of university education as a springboard to the future for many of our young people, the steady deterioration of funding for this vital sector is extremely worrying.

So acute is the financial crisis that the heads of the country’s universities have called for increased Exchequer funding in higher education, an area which can aptly be described as the engine room of the country’s development.

They have warned that unless present trends are reversed, the ambitions of Government to put Ireland’s educational system in the top 20% of OECD countries will be dashed.

Overall, the universities have to find an extra €90 million a year to meet the drop in Government funding since college fees were abolished. Direct support per university student has fallen by €1,240 between 1995 and 2001. This is in addition to major cuts to capital budgets, particularly for research, buildings and equipment.

The statistics are contained in a damning report commissioned by the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities, who warned yesterday that already falling standards will slide even further if State investment continues to be cut.

An example of how cuts are biting is University College Cork, which is losing around €15 million a year. As college president Professor Gerry Wrixon points out, it is a loss neither the university nor the region can afford.

Moreover, because of the steady erosion of financial investment in third-level education, Ireland’s economic competitiveness is now being undermined. Government think-tank, the ESRI, recently highlighted the importance of higher education to maintain our international economic competitiveness.

If research and other facilities are not maintained to the highest OECD standards, overseas students will go elsewhere and top academic staff will drift away from Irish universities. Nor will multinational investors be attracted to develop Ireland as a base for projects at the cutting edge of research and development.

If knowledge is the key to development, then Irish universities will be doomed to remain in the middle ground of educational achievement instead of aspiring to the highest level.

Inevitably, the neglect of education will have a domino effect on both economic and social development. This scenario makes a mockery of the Government’s avowed commitment to securing Ireland’s place among the world’s foremost nations.

Prof Wrixon points out that despite pledges to make the sector more competitive economically, university funding is now on a downward rather than an upward trend. Without adequate funding, it is difficult to see how the development of intellectual property can be enhanced.

Furthermore, the task of helping indigenous companies get started will become all the more difficult. Ireland’s lack of a critical mass of research and development means that companies already established here will think twice before bringing in value-added investment.

There is no denying that students in Irish universities are as good as those in any other OECD country. But if the Government continues to cut funding in this vital area, the stark reality is that the hopes and aspirations of our young people, and the prospect of Ireland’s social and economic development, will be set back for years.