An insider's guide to education.

The team from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development that is reviewing Ireland's third-level sector will depart for Paris later this week after a fortnight's tour of the universities and the institutes of technology. Its report is unlikely to be finalised until September, although early drafts should be circulating by the summer. Here's a preview. The OECD will lavish praise on the third-level sector, detailing its contribution to economic and social progress. It will say that the sector is facing a funding crisis unless new sources of income are found. It will probably stop short of proposing the return of fees, but this will be one of the options put on the agenda.

The report might, for example, say that the return of fees is a political matter, requiring a political decision. But it will spell out, in very stark terms, how the Republic's colleges will be unable to compete in the global race for the best students and the best researchers unless funding is massively increased. There will be other stuff about the need for colleges to build excellence in specific areas instead of duplicating the efforts of other institutions. All of this, of course, is mere speculation. But, in broad terms, it summarises the general impressions formed by some of those who have met the review team in the past week. Watch this space.

All change at University College Dublin, where the revolution stirred by the appointment of new boss Hugh Brady continues apace. In the latest break from tradition the post of dean of the arts faculty will be filled by an international search-and-selection procedure of the type used to appoint the new president last year. The current dean, the excellent

Dr Fergus D'Arcy, is taking a well-deserved break after more than a decade at the helm.

At one stage during the Your Education System (YES) meeting in Dublin last week, the broadcaster John Bowman

asked if there were any questions from non-teachers in the audience. The YES process continues to be almost totally dominated by the views of teachers. Not surprisingly,

many teachers are beginning to wonder if they are the only people interested in the future of the education system. Bowman was joined onstage by a panel that included the bubbly broadcaster Fiona Looney, a sister of Anne Looney, the boss of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment. Others to feature on the YES panel include Liam Cahill, the distinguished former RTÉ correspondent and former Intel spokesman.

All quiet at the ASTI before its executive considers a replacement for Charlie

Lennon later this week. The smart money remains on John White, the deputy general secretary, who has managed to calm the organisation - and deliver the benchmarking money - since taking charge. But manoeuvres are under

way to ensure that a more militant voice emerges. Expect more conflict in the coming week.