“Candidates on the National University of Ireland (NUI) panel for next month’s Seanad elections have said people have been removed from its register without realising it and that it has failed to keep pace with changes of address and with deaths of graduates …” (more)
[Harry McGee, Irish Times, 22 March]
“In January 2010 the then Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe (now retired from politics), announced that he intended to ‘dissolve’ the National University of Ireland (a statement that made the NUI appear to be a kind of giant Alka Selzer) …” (more)
[Ferdinand von Prondzynski, University Blog, 17 March]
“The Government has reversed a decision to abolish the National University of Ireland, which has over 250,000 graduates in Ireland and worldwide, the Irish Independent has learned …” (more)
[John Walshe, Independent, 16 March]
“FF, FG, Labour, ex-PDs, and other shades of establishment opinion are putting themselves forward as ‘independents’ in the upcoming election to Seanad Éireann. The mask of ‘disability campaigner’ or ‘human rights advocate’ is unfortunately the last refuge of some of them. This is most obvious on the university constituencies …” (more)
[Indymedia Ireland, 5 March]
“Outspoken cancer specialist Professor John Crown and Sinn Fein’s Eoin O Broin are among the surprise Seanad Eireann candidates in the three-seater National University of Ireland constituency …” (more)
[John Walshe, Independent, 4 March]
“The list of candidates for the NUI panel of the Seanad have been published, they include Former PD and FG Senator Helen Keogh, unsuccessful Sinn Fein general election candidate in Dublin Mid West Eoin O Broin …” (discussion thread)
[Politics.ie, 3 March]
“The first item in the Trinity College Dublin (TCD) news feed at present is the report that Professor Petros Florides was recently inaugurated as a Pro-Chancellor of the University of Dublin. This reminds me that I often hear the question: ‘what is the University of Dublin for?’. And in the context of NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth, UCC, UCD et al, I often hear the similar question: ‘what is the NUI for?’ …” (more)
[Eoin O’Dell, Cearta, 3 November]
“At the spring conferring ceremony the National University of Ireland yesterday conferred its highest degree in engineering on Peter Kennedy, Professor of Microelectronic Engineering and Vice-President for Research at University College Cork …” (more)
[Olivia Kelleher, Irish Times, 27 March]
“The National University of Ireland (NUI) has strongly defended the 900pc increase in the proportion of first-class honours degrees it awards. It said that the quality and standard of degrees awarded by NUI Maynooth were externally and independently validated by academics from leading international universities …” (more)
[John Walshe and Colin Bartley, Independent, 3 March]
“Readers of The University Observer whose primary allegiance is – of course – to UCD may not have been too greatly distressed at the announcement of the Minister for Education and Science, Batt O’Keeffe TD, that with the approval of the government, he plans to dissolve the National University of Ireland (NUI). However, as NUI Chancellor and as a graduate, former lecturer and currently adjunct professor in UCD, I believe that this is a bad decision, and not in the interests of UCD students …” (more)
[Maurice Manning, University Observer, 2 March]
“Dear Editor, As a retired head of a medical school department in the National University of Ireland (NUI), I consider that dismantling the organisation, intended by the Minister for Education, could well lead to low standards and abuse by vested interests …” (more)
[EG Everard-Hewson, Irish Medical Times, 18 February]
“Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe’s plan to scrap the National University of Ireland faces major delays. The NUI is a federal umbrella body that consists of four major universities and a number of colleges, including the Royal College of Surgeons …” (more)
[John Walshe, Independent, 8 February]
“Madam, – There are thousands of current students already progressing in courses for bachelor, master, doctoral and research degrees in the universities of the NUI. They have legal, moral and practical rights to complete the degrees and receive the qualifications for which they registered. Overseas students who have come here, at great expense to their families, have extra moral rights to receive the NUI degrees they value and are working hard for …” (more)
[RN Butler, Irish Times, 2 February]
“So on Saturday, the Minister for Education announced that he was very worried because two people had told him (possibly over coffee and some nice biscuits) that most academics only work for four hours a week. Now most of the time, with most people, that’d lead to someone looking up what the situation actually is and determining if there was a problem and so no-one would be worried about knee-jerk reactions. Thing is, we’re talking about a Minister for Education who recently decided to abolish the NUI and didn’t tell anyone until the press conference (ignoring the point that abolishing the NUI does not abolish the work they are required to do …)” (more)
[Mark Dennehy, Stochastic Geometry, 1 February]
“Madam, – On April 18th, 1967, the then minister for education, Donough O’Malley, without any advance notice or debate, announced the government’s cabinet decision to dissolve the National University of Ireland and to merge Trinity and UCD, ‘to remove’ he said, ‘the insidious partition which divides our capital city’ …” (more)
[John Kely, Irish Times, 30 January]
“… The upshot? The impression is not of a decisive government courageously taking each issue and dealing with it with determination, but instead of an absolute lack of coherency, of doing things which will later be reversed or modified. And I think it’s fair to say that that’s a statement that can be made by anyone who analyses this situation whether in favour of these measures or not …” (more)
[The Cedar Lounge Revolution, 29 January]
“Deputy Lucinda Creighton asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has calculated the rebranding and re-signing costs to constituent colleges of the decision to close the National University of Ireland …” (more)
[Dáil Debates, 28 January]
“Deputy Brian Hayes asked the Minister for Education and Science Information when he will bring forward legislation to abolish the National University of Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter …” (more)
[Dáil Debates, 28 January]
“All of my degrees come from NUI. When it’s gone, can I go back and get another crack of the whip? Maybe this time for free?” (tweet)
[Sinead McEneaney, Twitter, 29 January]
“The Government’s sudden decision to terminate the National University of Ireland leaves many questions unanswered about how its existing coordination and future quality assurance functions for higher education will now be organised. Given the paltry financial savings involved and the conviction expressed by Ministers that such tasks continue to be necessary, this is quite unsatisfactory …” (more)
[Editorial, Irish Times, 28 January]
Ninth Level Ireland 