Sir, - University teaching is a noble calling, embodying a cultural and educational mission of the highest importance to individual students and to the community. Part of that importance is political in the broadest sense. Because they work with some of the ablest, most intelligent, not to say demanding of our country's third-level students, university teachers nowadays have to be very highly qualified academically( normally of Ph.D. standard at recruitment), and be also, at the very least, effective teachers, whose dedication makes them available to their students in a pastoral context.
Moreover - especially since the University Act of 1997 - high-quality research is not merely a desideratum but an employment requirement. For people of such calibre, the recent salary increase of 3 per cent, as proposed for the majority of them by the Benchmarking Body, is derisory and literally degrades the university sector. - Yours etc.,
Dr PATRICK BURKE, President, Irish Federation of Univerity Teachers, St Patrick's College, Dublin 9.