Descision to halt audiology course a ‘fiasco’

The decision to cancel the country's first undergraduate course in audiology was a "fiasco", the High Court heard yesterday.

Students Megan Munnelly, Knockbrack, Corballa Co Sligo, and Diarmuid O'Connor, Ballyvodock, East Midleton, Co Cork, had just completed their first year of their BSc degrees in audiology at Athlone Institute of Technology when they discovered the course was being cancelled.

Last July the institute said it was cancelling the course because the Higher Education Authority would not provide funding for the four-year programme, which includes a year and a half of work placement.

The funding would not be provided because the HSE was not prepared to provide the students with work placements.

The HSE, the court heard, was concerned because the institute did not consulted with it before offering the course. The HSE intends to train audiologists by way of a two-year postgraduate course.

As a result of the cancellation the students have brought High Court proceedings against Athlone Institute of Technology, the Higher Education Authority and the HSE aimed at quashing what they say is an unfair decision to cancel the course.

They also want the court to order that the course be continued and the students be provided with work placements as part of their course. The action has been opposed.

The institute, the HEA and the HSE have opposed the action. In their statements of opposition they deny all the claims against them. It is also argued the students’ actions are misconceived.

Ms Munnelly said in an affidavit the cancellation of the course has had "a terrible effect" on her. She has been "under extreme stress" about where she will end up in September. "I don't know whether I will be studying in Ireland or England or what I will be studying," she said.

She said unless their action was successful the students would “suffer financial and emotional damage” and “nobody will be held to account for this fiasco”.

In his affidavit Mr O’Connor said the alternative course offered to students after the cancellation was “substandard” and was only offered “to try and keep students quiet so we would not make a fuss”. He said he was “shocked” and angered by the decision to cancel the course and has been left in “a perilous situation.”

At the end of yesterday's proceedings Mr Justice Gerard Hogan asked if an "ad hoc" solution could be reached between the parties before the case resumes today. The students – "through no fault of their own" – found themselves in a difficult situation, the judge noted.