A LANDMARK report on higher education is set to back the return of student tuition charges as colleges face unprecedented financial pressures.
The recommendation from the Hunt report will put the issue of student fees back on the agenda – even though the Green Party vetoed any change to the free fees scheme in the revised programme for Government.
The expert group, chaired by economist Dr Colin Hunt, is working on a long-term national strategy for higher education. Publication of the much-anticipated report, which was expected this month, is now set to be delayed until the autumn.
Sources say the group will now begin a full review of its work in an effort to resolve several key issues.
The strategy group is working on a revised final draft of its proposals.
An earlier draft that made no firm proposals on several key issues was circulated last month.
However, Dr Hunt has agreed to present a revised “toughened-up’’ draft after a meeting with the heads of universities and the institutes of technology last week.
Sources say the Hunt group now accepts the case put forward by college bosses that “there is no alternative” to tuition charges.
Third-level colleges are coming to terms with a looming financial crisis as they struggle to cope with a forecast additional 55,000 students over the next decade.
Last month, an internal Higher Education Authority (HEA) report said an investment of over €4 billion would be required to upgrade dilapidated buildings and provide space for a surge in student numbers.
The report did concede that such investment was “highly unlikely” in the current economic climate.
Sources say the group can no longer ignore the issue of student charges. However, any decision to back new charges is set to be opposed by Shane Kelly, the student representative on the strategy group. Mr Kelly is a former head of the Union of Students in Ireland.
Other members of the strategy group include Brigid McManus, secretary general of the Department of Education; Michael Kelly, chairman of the HEA; Dr John Hegarty, Provost Trinity College Dublin, and Paul Rellis, managing director of Microsoft Ireland
Other proposals expected from the Hunt group include: closer collaboration between all third-level colleges with the development of clusters specialising in a smaller number of disciplines: an expanded role for the HEA in managing the sector and linking spending to national objectives and a new workload management process where the working hours of academic staff in both the universities and the institutes of technology (ITs) will be more closely monitored.
The group is also under pressure to establish a new umbrella body for the ITs, a national technological university, which would help to boost the status of the ITs. However, it has still to decide on this issue.
In a blow for parents, Minister for Education Mary Coughlan last month refused to rule out an increase in the €1,500 student registration charge from 2011.
The Minister made her comments during a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education which discussed the huge financial challenges that are now facing the higher-education sector.