Teacher's PET

An insider's guide to education: What do you give a man who has donated an estimated €700 million to the university sector?

It is a question that puzzled university heads at UL, Trinity and DCU as the much-loved Irish American billionaire Chuck Feeney visited the colleges.

All the stops were pulled out for the board of Chuck's funding vehicle, Atlantic Philanthropies, with a reception hosted by the President, Mrs McAleese, and a meeting with the former president and UN Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson.

The colleges also went large on the hospitality - even though Feeney is a very modest, unassuming figure. A colleague once said of him: "He doesn't own a house. He doesn't own a car. He flies economy and I think his watch cost $15".

The universities are now coming to terms with a future life without Chuck's millions, which will now be diverted to other worthwhile causes. The question is who in Corporate Ireland will pick up the tab?

Have students lost their taste for radical New Wave sounds? Up at DCU, the big draw these days is You're a Star winner Mickey Harte and an imitation Kylie and Robbie show.

What has happened to the generation that supported New Wave bands and anyone whose stuff was not banal enough for the pop charts and the dreaded MTV? We only ask.

Is the ASTI ban on the new Junior Cert science course about to end in tears?

ASTI is refusing to co-operate with the new course on health and safety grounds. The union says it wants to see the Task Force report on Science implemented so that kids can work safely in labs.

Fair enough. But now the whole basis of the protest is beginning to fall apart. First, the chairman of the Task Force, Danny O'Hare, expresses his unease about the ban. And then the Department says there is no increased health and safety risk in the new course - when compared to the old.

To add to these problems, there is increasing speculation that the arbitrator, who is now examining the dispute, will find that the union has breached the no-strike clauses of the national pay deal. End result? ASTI will be forced to withdraw the directive if it wants to secure the 10 per cent pay rise due in January.

Bad news for Coca Cola. UCD Students' Union is proposing a referendum on the continued sale of the sugary drink. The poll is designed to highlight the treatment of trade unionists and Coca Cola workers in Colombia. Coca Cola has vehemently denied all charges against it.

This is not the first time UCD students have crossed swords with the multi-nationals. A decade ago, Nestlé products were banned because of its sales policy in the Third World.

Much anticipation of next week's National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals Conference (NAPD) in Galway. The NAPD - known as the LAPD in some circles - have kept a relatively low profile in recent times. But this may be about to change...

Got any education gossip? Email us in confidence at teacherspet@irish-times.ie