US MULTINATIONAL companies are reluctant to recruit graduates from many Irish third-level colleges because of concern about declining standards, Minister for Education Batt O’Keeffe was told at a recent meeting with representatives of Google, Intel and other major companies.
The meeting was told that while some companies were delighted with the calibre of graduates from UCD, TCD and UCC, they had concerns about other colleges.
There are reports in education circles that some colleges – one university and some institutes of technology – have been “black-listed” by US multinationals.
But this was denied yesterday by senior industrialists contacted by The Irish Times.
Last night, John Herlihy of Google Ireland said the December meeting with the Minister was confidential and he refused to give any details.
Asked about Google’s recruitment policies in Ireland he said: “We recruit from all seven universities but we recruit principally from three universities – UCD, UCC and Trinity. All three are producing outstanding graduates across the range.’’
Mr Herlihy is general manager and vice-president, global advertiser operations, with Google.
It was the December meeting with Mr O’Keeffe which prompted the Department of Education inquiry into grade inflation in the Leaving Cert and in higher education. Mr O’Keeffe is expected to give details of the findings to the Dáil tomorrow.
The Minister has hinted that some Irish third-level colleges are operating below the expected quality threshold.
But he has stressed that he is not engaged in a witch-hunt. His focus is on challenging colleges to go to the next level.
It is understood that the chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, Tom Boland, was also alerted to concerns about grade inflation during a meeting with a US multinational company six months ago.
Last year, Mr Boland also voiced fears of declining academic standards, where what he termed “spoon-fed’’ Leaving Cert students were struggling to cope at third level.
On RTÉ radio on Monday, Mr Herlihy expressed dismay about the standard of CVs prepared by graduates from some colleges. Many, he said, were littered with basic spelling and grammatical errors.
Yesterday, the president of NUI Maynooth , Prof John Hughes, disputed claims of widespread grade inflation.
Interviewed on RTÉ's News at One,he said the cut in resources for higher education represented a much more serious threat to academic standards.
He was responding to reports that the rate of first-class honours degrees awarded by most Irish universities has increased by more than 100 per cent since 1994,.
The study shows an increase of more than 700 per cent in the number of firsts awarded by NUI Maynooth over this period.
Prof Hughes said the awarding of first-class honours degrees at NUI Maynooth today is fully in line with the Irish university sector. The quality and standard of degrees awarded by NUI Maynooth are externally and independently validated by academics from leading international universities.
In another reaction, the president of Dublin City University, Ferdinand von Prondzynski, said Irish education faced a series of problems. “We have a school system that is offering an education that, while staffed by dedicated teachers, is largely out of date, with questionable learning methods and with a syllabus that is not sufficiently adapted to society’s changing needs.”
