University funding

In the run-up to the Budget, various groups and interests press their case for more funding

In the run-up to the Budget, various groups and interests press their case for more funding. But it is hard to think of a more compelling case than that presented by the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU) yesterday.

As the Provost of Trinity College, Dr John Hegarty, said this was not special pleading by one group; this was a wake-up call to the Government in the national interest.

In essence, the universities are telling the Government that the current under-funding of the sector threatens Irish competitiveness and its economic ambition, based on the creation of a world-class knowledge economy. There was, as CHIU said, a "disconnect" between the Government's lofty ambitions for the third-level sector and the reality on the ground, where colleges are enduring severe budget cutbacks. At a press conference yesterday, the college presidents spoke of how the "cracks were now beginning to show" in a sector which was struggling to cope with budgetary cutbacks.

The extent of the Government's folly is highlighted by the current situation in which over €50 million - committed by the Irish American billionaire, Mr Chuck Feeney, to research funding - cannot be secured because a parsimonious Government refuses to provide the required matching funds. It is, as one university president reflected yesterday, a glaring example of the lack of "joined up" political thinking about the third-level sector.

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In truth, the university sector as a whole suffers from the lack of any coherent political direction. Yes, we have had no shortage of debate about the return of college fees but there is little debate about the long-term funding needs of our universities. There is a great deal of political rhetoric about the drive towards a world-class knowledge economy but little consideration of how this can be secured .

As CHIU points out, a national strategy for the third-level sector, which seeks to deliver on national goals and objectives, is imperative. It is to be hoped that the forthcoming OECD review of the sector, due next summer, will make the case for more coherent thinking.

In the short-term, ministers as they prepare the Estimates, must heed the message delivered by the university presidents yesterday. Further cutbacks in the university sector are counter-productive.

They will damage the international standing of our third-level system. They will damage our international competitiveness. And they will undermine the ambitions we have set for ourselves to create a world-class knowledge economy.