LEFTFIELD:SHORTLY AFTER I took up my post as president of Dublin City University, I was invited to join selection panels to appoint directors (as the title then was) of two institutes of technology (ITs). This was a new experience for me, as I had not previously known that much about the institutes, or even been on any of their campuses. So I did a lot of homework, familiarised myself with the statutory framework for the ITs, looked at their websites, and talked with graduates of various institutes or regional technical colleges (which is how most of them had previously been designated).
Then came the interviews, and I was a participant in the appointment of two quite outstanding directors, who turned out to be most successful and who would have been excellent candidates for most senior higher education jobs.
But I was also increasingly enthusiastic about the mission of these ITs, and the dedication of their staff to their jobs. Over the full period of my term in DCU, I took part in three more selection panels for institute directors or presidents, and I never had any occasion to think less highly of this vital sector of education.
However, as is well known, there is a feeling in the ITs that their status is not ideal, and that they are an undervalued group of colleges with fewer opportunities than are available to universities.
They are, or certainly have been, much more tightly controlled by government, they don’t have the full autonomy of programme accreditation available to universities, their budgets are constrained, their staff do not have access to professorial status, they don’t have the same ability to raise capital from philanthropy, and their staff are not given full opportunities to do research.
In addition, many of them believe the IT status is not well understood (particularly internationally) and does not allow them to compete effectively for students, research contracts and industry relationships.
And so, there are now various initiatives by individual ITs or groups of them to seek university status. At least three institutes have applied for this status, and the remainder have suggested as part of the strategic review of higher education that they should be allowed to form a federal “technological university”, of which individual institutes would then be constituent colleges. In addition, some have entered into discussions with neighbouring universities with a view perhaps to setting up strategic linkages.
The politicians have blown hot and cold. Those supporting a change of status are usually TDs in whose constituencies there are ITs. This has been particularly obvious in Waterford and the southeast of the country, where the campaign for university status has been particularly energetic and in-your-face.
Successive ministers for education have tended to be more cautious or even hostile. DIT’s bid for university status has been somewhat overshadowed by the recommendations of An Bord Snip Nua about mergers between it and other Dublin-area ITs.
So what should happen to the ITs? Do they have a specific role or mission that suggests they should retain their status?
There are perhaps three things worth mentioning. First, there are 14 ITs in Ireland right now, and they are spread across the country so that most major towns and regions have one in the vicinity, or at least not too far away. They therefore have a key regional development role, both in terms of industrial investment and economic and social regeneration. But this fairly large number also means they are, in critical mass terms, quite small, and some would look vulnerable as stand-alone universities.
Secondly, the portfolio of teaching programmes in the sector is different from that of the universities, with a substantial proportion of programmes leading to awards below undergraduate honours degree status. Many of these programmes are highly vocational and have close ties to industry. The inevitability is that, as university-level institutions, they will feel pressure to disinvest in such programmes, for which there is a major national need.
Thirdly, institute academic staff work to rather different conditions from their university counterparts – both in terms of much more precise teaching obligations, but also much more extensive holidays. It is not easy to see whether the research obligation of university staff could be easily taken on across the IT sector (though I should stress that some IT academics have very impressive research records, but they are the minority).
For myself, I have no issue with the idea of university status for some or more of the IT sector, though I would wonder about how that might best be structured. I don’t think that this country could credibly have 21 universities overall, given our size, and I suspect that the best way forward is through the forging of regional strategic links between ITs and universities.
This would allow some programmes and activities to receive university branding immediately, and some could work towards it; but it would also allow the institutes to maintain non-university (but vital) activities into the future.
But on the whole, I accept that a completely distinct IT sector is not really the model we should go forward with.
Ferdinand von Prondzynski is a former president of DCU.