Teacher's Pet

AN INSIDER'S GUIDE TO EDUCATION

That decision to award the University of Limerick a graduate medical school is still making waves throughout the higher education system. The four universities that lost out - UCD, UCC, Trinity and NUI Galway - are nursing some open wounds.

The decision is said to have dismayed experienced medics such as UCD president, Hugh Brady (right), and new UCC boss, Michael Murphy, who never envisaged a novice like UL snatching such a grand prize.

Belfield had already outlined its plans to run a graduate entry scheme this September, so last week's decision has led to some finger-wagging among senior staff. There was a stunned silence, apparently, when the decision was relayed at last week's meeting of the UCD governing authority.

Not surprisingly, the decision is being seized on by some of Brady's critics in UCD - just when Brady had apparently seen them off the premises. The latest reversal - taken with the 8 per cent drop in CAO applications - is not the kind of publicity that UCD craves. It all means that the university must perform well when the latest round of science research funding under the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI) is detailed shortly.

And what of UL? The decision to locate a graduate medical school in Limerick is a major boost for the college. To many observers, UL has - until now - never got the credit it deserved for its pioneering work. It was the first university to establish the link with the Irish-American billionaire Chuck Feeney, which delivered over €500 million to Irish colleges.

UL has also played a pioneering role in developing sport and links with business at third level. It has also built a hugely impressive campus speedily and without undue cost to the taxpayer - something noted by Bertie Ahern on a visit there last year.

In Limerick, credit for the latest coup is being given to the director of the medical school, Paul Finucane, who prepared such an impressive submission; the interim president, John O'Connor; former president Roger Downer; and the president designate, Don Barry.

Mention has also been made of Ed Walsh, who - as founding president of the college - was the first to appreciate its huge potential.

These are hazardous days in UCD. Now comes news of a fire last week in the Tierney administration building. Happily, the senior dons were unscathed but some jobs applications and research funding proposals were destroyed in the blaze.

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