Madam, - I welcome the letter published by you from Dr Seán Barrett under the heading " 'Managerialism' in universities" (December 14th), since I share his forebodings about the future of our universities if the cult of managerialism continues to strengthen its hold over the conduct of our affairs.
I welcome too the evidence that places Trinity College Dublin itself in 53rd position among the world's universities and establishes it conclusively as the leading university on the island of Ireland. None of this occasions much surprise, however, and it would be absurd to attribute our success to the input of managers rather than scholars.
In the first place, the effect of restructuring in Trinity has been to transfer resources from the arts and humanities to the sciences. But it is the sciences in Trinity that are (relatively speaking) underperforming. In the arts we occupy 37th position among the world's universities.
But while we can be pleased with such an assessment the university of Edmund Burke is hardly impressed by such a ranking. Our natural place is in the world's top 10 universities along with Harvard and Yale and Oxford and Cambridge. Only the inadequacy of Government funding (leading to one short-term financial crisis after another) prevents us from fulfilling our intellectual destiny.
When I came from Oxford to Dublin in 1968 I came from one sister university to another. We have always regarded ourselves in Trinity as the equal of Oxford and Cambridge. And so indeed we are. But our new breed of managers can take no credit for that. And perhaps it is time for our rulers to recognise the prestige that Trinity College Dublin has conferred and continues to confer on Ireland. - Yours, etc,
Dr GERALD MORGAN, Arts Building, Trinity College, Dublin 2.