Hunt is key player in review

TEACHER'S PET:Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe has won deserved plaudits for his ability to "think outside the box'', but the make up of the new expert group to review higher education is more conservative than anticipated.

The group is dominated by civil servants and those from various State agencies. Curiously, the group even includes a representative (Peter Cassells) from the National Centre for Partnership and Performance, one of those quangos without any clear role in these troubled times.

Predictably, the Department of Education, the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Finance all get representation. In stark contrast, there are only two representatives from industry . And, as Mike Jennings of the Irish Federation of University teachers has pointed out, no lecturers or researchers.

Some of the appointments will be welcomed. Marion Coy of Galway/Mayo IT, Shane Kelly of USI and Michael Kelly of the HEA are independent and fair- minded. But where are the likes of Peter Sutherland, Hugh Brady, Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Gerry Wrixon, Don Thornhill, Danny O’Hare, Ed Walsh and others with a real appetite for change? Where are the young entrepreneurs who will looking to the third-level sector for support?

Where are the representatives from further and adult education who want third level to be more flexible in its response to the unemployment crisis?

The conservative composition of the group makes the role of Colin Hunt as chairperson all the more critical. Hunt, the former Goodbody economist, has certainly been close to the centre of power as a former advisor to Brian Cowen in Finance and to the Minister for Transport.

During the election campaign he had to intervene in a press conference involving Fianna Fáil Ministers to clarify issues about the hospital co-location project.

Last year, Fine Gael Dublin Central Senator Paschal Donohoe questioned Hunt’s appointment to a key position in a private bank (Macquarie Bank), which has been shortlisted for the Metro North project.

“The bank which Mr Hunt is now representing is tendering for a multi-billion euro contract. I would regard this as a serious potential conflict of interest.’’

But financial journalists speak highly of Hunt as someone of high integrity and great ability. He will, they say deliver a fresh new vision.