The Higher Education Authority announced last night that the governing body of University College Cork is to appoint an "external and independent" person to review a series of allegations made about the governance of UCC.
The appointee will inquire into allegations not already investigated by the governing body and review the process adopted by it into allegations that it has already investigated. The HEA announcement followed consultations with the governing body.
"The independent person will report to the governing body, stating if there is substance in any allegations and he or she can make recommendations for remedial action and/or a further process of examination if considered appropriate," said the HEA in a statement.
The HEA statement said an interim report from the external independent reviewer was expected to be made to the governing body of UCC by December 12th. The body would then report to the HEA.
However, governing body members Prof Des Clarke and Prof Patricia Coughlan, who have voiced continuing concern about the governance of the UCC over the past few years, last night expressed deep scepticism about the effectiveness of the proposed review.
"I think it's completely unacceptable because the governing body is effectively appointing the person to investigate concerns about the governing body itself - it's ludicrous that anybody can appoint the person to investigate allegations made against itself," said Prof Clarke. "I'm not assuming that anyone is going to find in my favour or anyone else's favour but you can't have people picking their own jury."
Prof Coughlan said she was sceptical about how fully independent the review could be and that she would have preferred if Ms Hanafin had used her powers under the Universities Act to appoint an external examiner or visitor.
Prof Clarke said it was unclear from the HEA statement just what powers the person appointed by the governing body would have in terms of accessing files and interviewing people. He also urged the appointment of a visitor.
HEA chairman Michael Kelly said the authority had reached agreement with the governing body of UCC on "a set of measures aimed at bringing closure to allegations concerning the operation, management and governance of the university."
"This agreement strikes a balance between the autonomy of UCC as a university and the HEA's role in ensuring the public interest and public confidence in what is one of our premier universities is maintained," added Mr Kelly.
Prof Clarke has also expressed concern about the manner in which a successor to President Gerry Wrixon was to be appointed but Mr Kelly said that the agreement between the HEA and the governing body endorsed the present process for the appointment of a president.
Last night both Prof Clarke and Prof Coughlan also expressed concern that the external independent examiner would have no function in reviewing the selection process established to choose President Wrixon's successor.
"I don't think they should have agreed in advance on the issue of the appointment of the next president - the governing body is proceeding as quickly as they can to appoint a new president but what if the external review finds significant problems with governance?" asked Prof Clarke.