‘We are going to focus our declining funds on helping the wealthy’

“… Although I have a lot of sympathy with those who don’t like the idea of tuition fees, we have to be realistic and accept that unless we reintroduce fees we are doomed to have a second- rate higher education system, which will soon be offering second-rate degrees. The money needed to secure real excellence and quality is well beyond the capacity (or at any rate the willingness) of the taxpayer to deliver. Even during the Celtic Tiger’s good years we were seriously underfunded, and now we are about to have our resources decimated. And why are we refusing to adopt the obvious solution? Because we have decided that the principle of offering money to wealthy people to educate their children is more important than the quality of the education that all the students get …” (more)

[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, Irish Times, 13 October]

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