Teacher's Pet

An insider's guide to education

•The patience of university presidents is beginning to wear thin over the Department of Education's long delay in rolling out grants under the second cycle of the €130 million Strategic Innovation Fund (Sif).

Under the most intense pressure the college rushed to meet the October 19th deadline for submissions last year.

The Sif 2 results have been finalised since mid-December and an announcement was expected before Christmas, but the colleges are still waiting.

In a letter to college heads, the Higher Education Authority says it is continuing to put the pressure on the Department for a statement. But there is still no word - even though the universities are always being told by the Department to be more efficient.

•The CAO has paid a high price for its computer problems last year when scores of students had difficulty making their application in the run-up to the February 1st deadline.

To avoid a last-minute rush, the CAO this year offered a €10 discount to all of those who applied before January 20th.

With 36,400 taking advantage of the reduced rate, the lost revenue is over €360,000.

Incidentally, the discount was only available until 5.15pm on January 20th. Many students, believing the discount was available until midnight, applied late on the night in question - only to be hit with the full €45 bill. The message from the CAO - read the CAO handbook.

In fairness, Joe Grady and his team at the CAO in Galway deserve huge credit for the superb navigation on the CAO site, which makes it so user-friendly.

Memo to CIÉ - please copy.

•The original application form for the position of president of Froebel teacher training college in Dublin was certainly challenging.

Among a huge range of questions, it asked candidates about their detailed medical history.

Happily, the revised form is much less intrusive, although candidates are still obliged to confirm they have read and subscribe to the Dominican document In Search of Truth.

Details of any criminal record are also requested. So bad news then for Tony Soprano.

E-mail us at teacherspet@irish-times.ie