“In today’s Irish Times, former president of DCU Ferdinand von Prondzynski, states that before the recession, Irish universities got about half the money per student compared with UK universities and only a fraction of the money in the US, and cuts have been made since in that parsimonious funding …” (discussion thread)
[Politics.ie, 8 March]
“These are tough times for Europe’s 5,000 or so universities. As public funding is slashed as a result of the financial downturn, universities must now look elsewhere to galvanise their financial security …” (more)
[Natasha Gilbert, The Great Beyond, 22 February]
“Although public money remains the main source of financing for most European universities, a growing number of institutions are turning to such additional sources of revenue as private contracts with industry, service-related income, philanthropy, and, in some countries, increased tuition, says a new report by the European University Association …” (more)
[Aisha Labi, Chronicle of Higher Education, 21 February]
“Madam, – JA Barnwell (January 31st) repeats some tired debating points on university funding, which ought to be addressed …” (more)
[Robert Ellis, Irish Times, 2 January]
“… As society tries to come to grips with a totally changed economic environment and as governments try to make ends meet, expensive public services have come under fire from all quarters, and higher education is right there amongst them. Two common threads in all this criticism are the charge of under-performance (or rather more accurately, the neglect of students and of frontline teaching), and complaints about allegedly excessive pay for academics …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 27 January]
“Chairman: I welcome all the witnesses. Our meeting may be disrupted on a few occasions because in order to do business here effectively, we normally have a pairing arrangement but there is no such arrangement today. Therefore, we are at the mercy of votes in the House …” (more)
[Committee of Public Accounts, 20 January]
“So far I’ve managed to avoid the new years list idea. The new years resolution and/or predictions phenomena just don’t work for me. Anyhow, with all the political happenings taking place at the moment in the country. the implications of associated ‘cost-savings’ methods that some people seem certain will be implemented, along with some interesting websites I’ve come across, I’ve changed my mind …” (more)
[Pennybridged’s Weblog …, 23 January]
“@brianmlucey @vonprond Make everything about cash and metrics and the university is finished, except as a commercial research house.” (tweet)
[Norman Wyse, Twitter, 28 December]
“Universities would gain if academics could focus on teaching and research, and be funded directly …” (more)
[Philip Clarke and Paul Frijters, The Australian, 8 December]
“Today’s Daily Telegraph has a headline story about the main recommendations of the government commissioned Browne Report on university funding. Those recommendations are revolutionary …” (discussion thread)
[Politics.ie, 12 October]
“Spending on education has not kept pace with the rising numbers of pupils and teachers. Three years ago a total of €8.7bn was spent on education – rising to €9.35bn last year. The transfer of certain functions between the departments of Education and Enterprise make a direct comparison impossible this year …” (more)
[Independent, 8 September]
“Ireland has been ranked 29th out of 33 countries for the amount of its overall wealth invested in education in 2007. The OECD’s annual Education at a Glance report suggests that in 2007 Ireland was spending 4.7% of its income on education. The OECD average for that year was 5.7% …” (more)
[RTÉ News, 7 September]
“The Government plans to invest more than €4 billion in capital spending via the Department of Education and Skills. The bulk of this – €3.1 billion – will be used to upgrade primary and secondary school facilities, with more than €650 million going into the universities, institutes and other higher education facilities …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 26 July]
“As Ireland’s economy boomed for much of the past two decades, prompting wonder at the transformation of one of Western Europe’s poorer nations into the vaunted Celtic Tiger, the country’s higher-education institutions, almost all of which are publicly financed, rode the wave of prosperity that swept the country …” (more)
[Aisha Labi, Chronicle of Higher Education, 20 July]
“The reluctance of third-level academics to open their work activities to scrutiny may put increased public investment at risk, the head of the Higher Education Authority warns …” (more)
[Niall Murray, Irish Examiner, 30 June]
“Doubts about the consistency of funding in support of scientific research here continues to be a talking point for policy makers. Minister of State for Science Conor Lenihan, for one, wonders whether some people in Government just don’t understand what the current science policy is trying to achieve …” (more)
[Dick Ahlstrom, Irish Times, 25 June]
“The extent of the financial and operational crisis facing the university sector has been outlined in a stark letter sent to the seven presidents by Higher Education Authority (HEA) chief executive Tom Boland. He tells the colleges to brace themselves for an unprecedented range of cuts over the next year …” (more)
[Editorial, Irish Times, 3 June]
“Hard to improve on this Irish Times Editorial – it says it all. The sector is in crisis, and meanwhile is expected to be engine of the smart economy and to drive innovation and smart job creation. Guess what? It’s not going to happen with the current mind-boggling disinvestment in the sector …” (more)
[Shane O’Mara, Irishscience, 2 June]
“Universities, it seems, are in a perpetual state of funding crisis. Costs grow more quickly than ordinary inflation every year. Prospective students and their parents demand that universities expand to meet the growing number of applicants. Governments demand that universities produce more research to drive the transition to a knowledge-based economy …” (more)
[David Trick, University World News, 14 March]
“Bank finance is underutilised by Irish third-level institutions as a funding source, the head of education banking at Barclays has said. Chris Hearn was speaking ahead of meetings in Dublin yesterday with representatives from Trinity College Dublin, UCD and the Irish Universities Association (IUA) about the possible provision of bank debt facilities to third-level institutions in Ireland …” (more)
[Irish Times, 19 February]
Ninth Level Ireland 