Irish Universities Are Urged to Make Major Changes
By DOUG PAYNE
FROM THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION ONLINE, JANUARY 10, 20002.
Ireland's universities should reach out to their surrounding localities,
build more partnerships with businesses, and better serve low-income
parts of society, according to a report commissioned by the Irish Higher
Education Authority and the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities.
"The alternative is not the maintenance of the status quo but a steady
and inexorable decline and loss of authority, influence, and resources,"
warns the author of the report, Malcolm Skilbeck, a retired professor
who taught in Ireland, Britain, and Australia, and who was formerly the
deputy director for education of the Organization for Economic
Co-Operation and Development.
Mr. Skilbeck writes that Irish universities should enroll more students
from a broader cross-section of the population, increasing the
proportion of older and postgraduate students and those from poorer
backgrounds. He calls for universities to reposition themselves as a
strong system, not just a collection of separate, individual
institutions. Mr. Skilbeck wants universities to develop new financing
sources by offering student and other services on the international
market, and he wants them to strengthen links and partnerships with
industry and localities, making work experience a part of all degree
programs. He also says there should be published, internal performance
evaluations of departments and faculties under a newly developed
national quality-assurance system.
"Alternatives already exist, internationally, for carrying out each and
every one of the main functions traditionally performed by
universities," Mr. Skilbeck writes, including online, privately provided
education, and research provided by specialized research institutes.
There is also, he says, "a reluctance by many members of the academic
community to become ... footsoldiers to government and economic policy."
The report, "The University Challenged: A Review of International Trends
and Issues With Particular Reference to Ireland," has been broadly
welcomed.
Art Cosgrove, president of University College Dublin and the chairman of
the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities, said he hoped it would
help stimulate public debate on the role of universities. He added that
while the institutions must respond to changing needs, they should be
allowed to "take risks" in order to generate income from nontraditional
sources.
Mr. Cosgrove issued this caution: "If the challenge is to be met
successfully, the universities must be aided by others. Staff may
legitimately ask, How, on the one hand, are we to become world-class
researchers while, on the other, we must respond to the needs of a much
more variegated student body, if there are no more resources available?"
Mr. Cosgrove continued, saying, "Government and industry must engage in
the debate about the long-term needs of the universities."
The Union of Students in Ireland also welcomed the report, especially
its demand for wider access for older, disadvantaged, and postgraduate
students.