THE GOVERNMENT’S higher education strategy is in complete disarray, Labour TD Ruairí Quinn has claimed.
He said the Government appeared intent on cutting back funding as record numbers of students, many of them seeking to upskill or to retrain, enrolled at college.
He was responding to a report in The Irish Timesyesterday that the Higher Education Authority had told universities to expect deep cuts next year.
Mr Quinn said he suspected the Government had already abandoned its commitment to a knowledge economy.
“The Employment Control Framework, which has seen a six per cent cut in college spending, has led to serious shortages of teaching staff in many departments, and universities have not been given the flexibility to replace staff.
“In some colleges there are subjects that are no longer taught as they have lost all their teaching staff through retirement.
“This framework needs to be reviewed by the Minister for Education and Skills so as to allow university management allocate resources as they see fit.’’
The Irish Federation of University Teachers said it was utterly astonished at the prospect of more funding cuts.
“I note that in a panic reaction to the prospect of more cuts some university sources are allegedly considering redundancies for academic staff,” said Mike Jennings, IFUT general secretary. “I wish to state categorically that under no circumstances will IFUT agree to any compulsory job losses in the university sector.”
At a time of unprecedented demand for higher education and record numbers of students in the universities, it beggared belief that the Department of Education could even be considering more cuts, he said.
The Union of Students in Ireland strongly condemned any Government plans to impose “further reductions in core allocations” to the colleges of Ireland.
Dan O’Neill, USI deputy president, said: “Once again the Government’s lip service to ‘the knowledge economy’ has been shown as a fraud. If we are to compete as a small, open economy such short-term vision cannot continue.
“Economic success in the modern world stems from three things: Having smart people, smart ideas and the right environment.
“The cultural integrity of third-level education is also under attack as further cuts will mean colleges will look to abolish courses that are seen as unnecessary. This will also be extremely detrimental to the future development of our country.”