Growing concern about Irish universities "poaching" high-profile academic staff from one another has prompted the Higher Education Authority (HEA) to write to all seven of the Republic's universities asking for their suggestions on how an agreed code governing the area might work.
In time, this could mean any university that breaks the code in order to lure talented academics from another institution will face financial and other sanctions.
As discussions are still at a preliminary stage, exact details as to how any agreement may operate remain to be worked out. But once agreed, other measures may include the "tying in" of academics for an agreed period of time before they can be approached by another university - and the payment of compensation to those universities that have lost staff.
HEA chief executive Tom Boland said the authority "appreciates and supports" staff mobility. "At the same time, the HEA wants to support a system that balances the rights of individuals to further and develop their careers, but also the ability of institutions to build and develop successful research and development strategies," he said.
The authority is hoping to receive suggestions for an agreed set of procedures from the universities over the summer.
One senior source in the university sector yesterday acknowledged that the issue of academic "poaching" had the potential to become a "cancer in the system" unless measures were introduced to address it. The loss of talented individuals in this way could particularly hurt smaller universities, the source added.
Universities here have long been used to competing for staff on the international stage. However, the increasing emphasis placed by the Government on the science and technology areas in particular, and the huge level of funding allocated to the sector, has led to intense competition between universities for the most talented researchers, lecturers and professors.