ITs have a little plan

The Minister for Education and Science, Micheal Martin, didn't flinch last week when he was presented with the institute of technologies' £763 million plan to revolutionise the development of technology education in Ireland. Instead, he complimented the sector on the role it has played in providing industry with the skills needed to feed the Celtic Tiger. The submission, the Minister said, is important in the context of the National Development Plan 20002006, which is currently being formulated. Maybe £763 million sounds a lot of money. Columb Collins, chairman of the Council of Directors of Institutes of Technology, says it represents no more than £8.4 million per annum for each of the State's 13 ITs.

The institutes, which currently boast a total enrolment of 37,000, plan to increase their intake, so that by the year 2007 the full-time student population there will reach 60,000. The ITs are particularly keen to attract non-standard students - mature students, who may be changing career direction or upskilling, and socially disadvantaged groups which, for one reason or another, have been unable to avail of higher education. "Access to socially disadvantaged groups, already a feature of our student population," the IT's submission states, "will be further facilitated by the introduction of more flexible access modes, and second chance higher education opportunity for women will be a particular focus throughout the sector as will increased participation from among people with disabilities." Appropriate support for these groups will be provided. According to the submission, Technological Education - the Key to the Competitive Knowledge Society, lifelong learning is set to become a key part of the work of the sector. The ITs plan to address lifelong learning as a part of mainstream course provision, develop a flexible ways of addressing skills requirements in the craft area, develop flexible methods of learning and evaluate distance education and outreach techniques.

The submission notes that until 1994 investment in new facilities and infrastructure in the sector was "negligible". During the 1990s, the ITs have doubled their intake. "The colleges have gone out of their way to accommodate as many students as possible, to the point of overcrowding," Collins says. "In many colleges facilities have been stretched to the limit."

The IT sector has been the greatest beneficiary of the £250 million Technology Investment Fund - to the tune of £120 million, the Minister says. Also, in a number of instances ITs have had additional land purchased on their behalf by the Department of Education and Science. However, the ITs argue they still need more funding. "The money isn't enough for every college," Collins observes. "We need to upgrade our campuses and turn them into places where people want to be. Students are entitled to the best resources. IT campuses should be at least as good as the university campuses." The ITs are concerned that they receive no Government funding for research. "At present, budgets allocated to institutes of technology by the Department of Education and Science relate exclusively to mainstream course provision," the submission notes. Research therefore is "demand driven" by commercial and industrial interests only. "The outcome is that certain regions are denied the advantages that developed higher education research and development provision confers."

The ITs argue for updating the third-level Internet system - HEAnet - and increasing its broadband. "Further speed multimedia linkages to universities, institutes and research bodies in Ireland and abroad should also be capable of being accommodated in order that virtual projects across networks can be exploited to the maximum potential," the submission declares. The technology is also vital if the ITs are going to be able to offer new forms of course delivery.