What is going on in the universities? College presidents want more funds, academic staff are furious about modernisation plans. The following is a rough guide to what's happening

Q. The universities never seem to be out of the news these days. Last week, the UCD president was scathing about the Government's lack of investment. But the universities themselves, or at least Trinity, UCC and UCD, appear to be in turmoil. What is going on?

A. Quite a lot actually. The universities are furious about the lack of investment by the Government.

But this is not just special pleading by one vested interest group. The Government, they say, is giving them less but demanding more. They want them to be more efficient, more responsive, more socially equitable.

What really exasperates the universities is what they call the "disconnect" between the Government's rhetoric about the universities and the reality.

Q. Remind me of that rhetoric.

A. You know the drill. All of this stuff about how our "world class" universities will be the engine of economic growth, putting us at the cutting edge of The Knowledge Society.

Q. That is a lot of clichés in the one sentence. What does it all mean?

A. Essentially, that the Government will support the development of a genuinely world-class university system.

Q. But surely we already have that. Trinity is world famous and we are renowned for our education and culture. Irish universities are up there with the world's best? Right?

A. 'Fraid Not. Only Trinity made a list of the top 200 universities in the world published by The Times Higher Education Supplement. It came 87th. Trinity also featured on a list of the top 500 published by Shanghai university. No other Irish university was ranked in the top 400. Only UCC and UCD made the top 500.

Q. So why are they underperforming?

A. In fact, they are doing quite the reverse. The seven universities would say they are overachieving, given their relative lack of investment.

Here's a few sobering facts. The State's largest university - UCD - muddles through with about one-third of the funding available to similar-sized British colleges.

Ireland is ranked only 14th among 26 OECD countries when it comes to spending per third-level student. We spend about 1.3 per cent of GDP on third-level education. The US and South Korea spend about 2.7 per cent of GDP on this sector.

Q. But the universities have massive funding reserves and big cheques rolling in from the corporate sector?

A. If only. Some people in Government shared this view about spending reserves. But a recent expert report demolished this notion.

As for the cheques rolling in . . . this was true some years ago when the Irish billionaire philanthropist Chuck Feeney was pumping millions into Irish universities. A modest figure, it was not unknown for Chuck to arrive in a battered Toyota at a rural university, before approving a multi-million pound loan the following week.

Sadly, Chuck is now concentrating on other philanthropic causes. Yes, the Irish universities do receive cheques from benefactors and the corporate sector - but it is a drop in the ocean.

Q. So the taxpayer picks up the tab?

A. Correct. About 85 per cent of their funding comes directly from the Exchequer. This dependence has increased since the introduction of free fees.

University heads dream about the return of college fees, which would give them a huge cash windfall every autumn. But, as the former Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey, found out, this is a non-starter. The return of fees in the run-up to the election? No chance.

Here's what Noel Dempsey said on the day he was forced to abandon his plans for the abolition of free fees: "Tuition fees are off the political agenda for the foreseeable future."

Q. What about the experts in the OECD? Did they not recommend the return of fees?

A. Correct. A review by the Paris-based OECD proposed the return of fees in September. Their report was the most thorough review of the third-level sector here in a generation.

The report praised the Government for the boom in third-level numbers, up from 21,000 in 1965 to almost 140,000 in 2003. Rightly, it also praised the huge investment in research - €605 million in direct funding. Science Foundation Ireland, which supports leading research projects, has also received over €250 million in support.

For all that, the OECD found that the third-level sector now stood at a crossroads. The university sector had grown in response to huge demand, but there was a lack of clarity about overall objectives. The colleges need to be more competitive, more business-like and more efficient. They need to justify their existence by responding to the needs of the economy and the wider society.

This is what one of the authors, Michael Shattock, told a conference in Cork last week: "Unless reform is initiated now, higher education risks being marginalised by economic and knowledge-based drivers from the wider international society."

The OECD also said the universities need more money - what they called a "quantum leap" in funding. This was the only way the sector could achieve the very ambitious goals set for it by the Government.

Q. Which brings us to the recent Government spending Estimates. Presumably, the Government - having rejected the return of fees - doled out the cash for the universities?

A. Not quite. After a 14 per cent cut in current funding over the past two years, the universities secured only a six per cent increase. Result - uproar from the university heads. The response from the UCD president, Hugh Brady, was typical. The Government, he said, was undermining the whole thrust of the OECD report.

Q. But these university heads seem to have enough problems on their own doorstep. What about all this turbulence in UCC, Trinity and UCD? Is there fear and loathing about the place?

A. Quite correct. These three universities are engaged in what is politely called a "process of reform". Translation: faculties and departments could be trimmed back, merged or abolished.

At Trinity, proposals (since substantially amended) were tabled to cut the number of departments from 50-plus to just 20. At UCD, the future of 11 faculties and 90 separate departments is under review, before a key board meeting early next month. At UCC, there is a radical wave of reform, led by the college's controversial president, Gerry Wrixon.

Q. One can only imagine the reaction from academics. The end of the world as we know it?

A. Something like that. There is stiff resistance in the three universities to the plans. The presidents have been indicted for (a) trampling on age-old traditions of academic freedom or (b) running a "pro-business", anti-intellectual agenda. Needless to say, the university chiefs deny the charge.

Q. These university heads must be very different from the traditional, paternalistic president?

A. Quite. Hegarty, Brady and Wrixon are typical of a new breed of university head. All three have glittering academic backgrounds, but they are much more than "head teachers". They also see themselves as the chief executives of large-scale public enterprises. They are not the type of leaders who court popularity.

With vast experience of the US university system, all three tend to be, shall we say, realistic about the shortcomings of the Irish system. Like the OECD report, they know that Irish universities need to raise their game when it comes to issues such as accountability, quality assurance and management structures.

In plain terms, their message is this: no one Irish university can continue as some kind of independent republic at a time of scarce resources. Each college can no longer be all things to all men. They need to specialise in what they do best and collaborate with other colleges in other areas.

Academics, they will tell you, need to appreciate that nothing is set in stone. Every course, every department has to justify its existence - even if it has been around for decades. The universities need to be freeto respond to the needs of the economy and the society.

Q. So where are we? The universities are in turmoil. There is not much money in the kitty. And fees are off the agenda. So much for "world-class" universities?

A. The game is not over yet. The new Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin, is anxious to make a real difference. There is loose talk about a new reform fund. Universities would compete against each other for a slice of the cake. (They already do this for research funding. )

Essentially, universities would be rewarded for becoming more responsive to economic needs, more cost-efficient and more socially diverse. They could also be rewarded for delivering courses in a new, more flexible way that helps to attract mature students.

Q. How much are we talking about?

A. There is loose talk of a €30 million fund. It would all be good news for Wrixon, Hegarty and Brady. The money would be very welcome, but the symbolism is just as important. The Government would be backing the reform process. A new era may be about to begin.

Only one problem; the idea has still to gain the necessary political momentum. Brian Cowen seems unlikely to back it in this week's Budget but it could resurface, if the university heads create a fuss.

Q. One final question - just for reassurance. Fees are off the agenda until my son and daughter are through college?

A. Sorry to end on a sour note, but practically everyone in higher education believes fees or some variation of same (i.e. vastly increased registration charges) will be back after the next election. This, some say, is the only way, to end the funding crisis in our universities.