Brain drain at 'quite astounding' level

The movement of postgraduates out of the Republic could lead to serious economic problems, reports Dick Ahlstrom

Germany has more than 20 times our population but there are more postgraduates from the Republic studying in the UK than from our much larger EU partner. There are currently more than 4,000 Irish postgraduates in UK universities.

This surprise figure formed part of the discussions last month when the OECD met the Government and representatives from the Irish universities to discuss its review of education policy.

While education was the topic under scrutiny, Irish third-level research policy was treated in a single chapter in the OECD document. Yet aspects of research were woven right through the document produced by the organisation, according to Dr Conor O'Carroll, assistant director of research policy in the central universities research office, the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU).

"There is one specific chapter on research, but peppered through the document are aspects of research," says O'Carroll who was part of the delegation that discussed the document with OECD officials.

The loss of Irish postgraduates to the UK formed part of these discussions and represented a key finding, he says. The high figure "was quite astounding. We didn't know this was the case. What is fascinating is there are just under 4,000 German PhD students in the UK".

The movement of postgraduates out of the Republic at such a level does represent a serious problem if we are to achieve targets associated with the development of a knowledge-based economy, O'Carroll points out.

"From our point of view it is great to go off to the best universities in the UK, but we would like to think we could have retained a few of these," he says. "If we are to achieve the targets in the Barcelona agreement [to reach a 3 per cent of GDP State spend on research] we need to increase PhD output to 8,000 per year."

We remain nowhere near that output, however, and are running short by 3,600 postgraduates a year. Ireland needs to make graduate programmes more attractive to students at home, says O'Carroll.

The OECD perspective on research policy tends to follow the precept that more actually is more. It wants more State funding for research, more capital spending on research infrastructure and more power for the new chief science adviser, Dr Barry McSweeney.

The Republic has never had such a position before, but the OECD review suggests that McSweeney already needs more clout. It says he should coordinate science across all Government departments and not just provide advice to the Government.

"They believe the adviser should be doing more than advising; he should be coordinating science policy," says O'Carroll.

The OECD also argues that the new Cabinet committee on science, to be chaired by the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, should oversee a national strategy for research and innovation and not just address and coordinate science activities.

The OECD recommends a doubling of the current expenditure on research, which has a target under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 of €2.54 billion. Doubling this figure would still leave us short of the 3 per cent of GDP target, but we would be much closer than our current level of 1.2 to 1.3 per cent of GDP.

"There should be continued investment in research infrastructure," O'Carroll says, with funds channelled through a scheme such as the Programme for Research in Third Level Institutions (PRTLI), run by the Higher Education Authority. The review doesn't actually designate the PRTLI, but argues for this type of investment scheme in whatever name.

It also requests a better deal - including more money and better career paths - for academics and research students. It wants the Government to introduce competitive salaries, a five-year track before tenure, competitive PhD funding and graduate PhD training schools.

Will the report be acted upon or just gather dust?

"It is up to Government to decide what to do with the report and its 52 recommendations," says O'Carroll. "Our position is that we will do as much as we can do in delivering the recommendations."