Sir, – As a graduate of the Irish university system under the “no fees” scheme, I feel highly appreciative and thankful to the Irish taxpayer for facilitating my journey through third-level education from undergraduate to postgraduate studies. Yet, as a lecturer in a British university, I can see the daily advantages of the students paying annual fees based on a loan scheme, which the current Irish Government-sponsored Expert Group on Future Funding for Higher Education is considering.
Having taught in the university system in Ireland and experienced the huge pressures placed on the academic and administrative staff, particularly driven by a steady increase in student numbers, my time in England has been an eye-opener. Let me provide just one example. Unlike many universities in Ireland, tutorials remain at the heart of my institution’s teaching philosophy, with small groups of no more than 10 students, which meet with their appointed “personal tutor” each week. Such an enterprise allows students to flourish, to develop their intellectual and analytical skills.
Unfortunately, because of a severe lack of funding and investment in staff, many universities in Ireland simply can no longer offer tutorial-based learning. Rather each week seminars are regularly held in which up to 30 students are packed into a classroom. This is in no way the fault of the universities or their staff. What other choice do they have!
The real question is how to overcome this issue, and the many more problems facing third-level education in Ireland. I am therefore left with the one uncomfortable realisation that a loan system similar to that in operation throughout the western world must be implemented in Ireland. If no action is taken, academic standards in Ireland will surely continue to fall. – Yours, etc,
Dr STEPHEN KELLY,
Department of History
and Politics,
Liverpool Hope University.