The €1.2 billion package delivered in the Budget for the third-level sector may come to represent a landmark moment for the universities and the institutes of technology.
The Government is to spend some €900 million on providing modern facilities for the colleges, much of it targeted towards the science and technology area. This will be supported by a €300 million Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF), where colleges compete for finance.
The new funding, spread over a five-year timeframe, is not a panacea for a deplorably under-funded sector but it is a very welcome signal of intent. For years, there has been a great deal of Government rhetoric about its lofty ambitions for a world-class third-level sector. There has been talk, and sometimes little more, about the key role of the sector in the Irish economic transformation. Meanwhile, capital spending for the colleges was frozen two years ago and a "pause" was made in spending on research projects. Happily, both of these decisions have since been rescinded. But, until now, there was little sign that the Government recognised either the importance of the sector to our economic well-being or the challenges it faces from international competitors.
Against this background, it was heartening to hear Minister for Finance Brian Cowen place higher education at the heart of his Budget speech. The Irish Universities Association (IUA), representing the seven university presidents, is not exaggerating when it calls the Budget statement "groundbreaking". Mr Cowen showed an admirable appreciation of the third-level sector and its fundamentally strategic importance to future economic and social development. The unrealised potential for a new "Fourth-Level" sector, highlighted in the IUA pre-Budget submission, clearly made a huge impact.
Mr Cowen also identified the need for the colleges to help themselves. In stark terms, he said there is an urgent need for deeper collaboration between them. He also sent a clear signal that the sector itself needs greater reform and rationalisation. The SIF will be a useful instrument in pushing through this reform agenda. Under the scheme, colleges will be "rewarded" for cost efficiencies and for meeting wider economic and social targets. The Government appears to have made a kind of pact with third-level: it will deliver world-class funding if the colleges deliver world-class performance.
Yesterday, the university presidents moved to assure the Government they are fully committed to meeting the reform challenges . For its part, the Government has delivered what UCD president Hugh Brady calls a "pioneering initiative" which could transform the sector.