Cowen reassures universities

BOTH TAOISEACH Brian Cowen and Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe moved yesterday to reassure the other universities that the new UCD/TCD research merger will not see them marginalised.

Mr Cowen said all colleges would have to compete openly for research monies, with no question of “ringfenced’’ funds for the new innovation alliance.

Mr O’Keeffe said the new alliance in no way takes from the opportunities available to the other colleges.

“The Government’s competitive funding provides opportunity for quality proposals across the system. For instance, there will be no compromise on the principles of quality and competitiveness, allied to independent international assessment, on which the next round of research funding awards will be based.”

The seven university presidents united yesterday to back the UCD/TCD research alliance, despite a week of recrimination between them.

The other colleges say the new alliance could give UCD/TCD a clear advantage in the current pitch for some €300 million in research funding under the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions.

There is also anger about the secretive manner in which the new alliance was forged without reference to the Irish University Association (IUA), the group which represents the seven university presidents in the Republic.

There were “full and frank” discussions between the university presidents on these issues at a specially convened meeting late on Wednesday night.

But all sides decided yesterday to put the spat to one side, after reassurances from Government that no funding would be “ringfenced’’ to support the new alliance.

In a statement yesterday, the IUA welcomed the support of the Taoiseach and Government for the new Innovation Alliance.

UCC president Dr Michael Murphy said he was heartened by confirmation that there is no departure from the successful policies whereby investment in higher education is made available through open competition and is internationally peer reviewed.

“Fears have been expressed that this development poses a threat to UCC and to our region. As long as there is a level playing field, and there are no reliable indications to the contrary, these fears are unfounded.”

University of Limerick president Dr Don Barry said his university continues to explore the potential for further collaborations with regional, national and international partners to deliver the best return on the investment of increasingly scarce public funding.

TCD provost Dr John Hegarty said Trinity and UCD had been working together over a two-year period but events accelerated after the Government “smart economy” recovery document pointed to the need for closer collaboration in the third-level sector.