Madam, - It was with a sinking sense of déjà vu that I read your hysterically titled article, "Fear and loathing in UCC" (Education Today, September 28th). As a long-standing member of the UCC academic community and an elected member of the UCC governing body, I wish to state that your account of UCC as a place overwhelmed by "fear and loathing" is not one I recognise.
You gloss over in a few lines major stories such as UCC's research record and the rising number of student applications to UCC this year in order, yet again, to blow out of all proportions what is essentially a side-show. Instead of rehashing old articles in yet another cut-and-paste job, you might instead focus the considerable dissecting skills of The Irish Times on some of the real issues in education.
A thoughtful, well-researched, previously unpublished analysis of the recent OECD review of higher education in Ireland might do for starters. - Yours, etc.,
Dr GRACE NEVILLE, University College, Cork.