The Government's aspiration to move Ireland "up the value chain" into the knowledge society is deeply at odds with the major cuts in university and research funding, writes Seán Ó Riain.
The gap between Government aspiration for the university sector and funding appears to be part of an emerging agenda to shift the place of the university in Irish society: "quality" and "accountability" are the goals and increased reliance on private-sector funding is to deliver them.
The supposedly market-driven US system of third-level education is to be the model for a transformation of the Irish higher education system, particularly the universities.
Unfortunately, this agenda is based on a dangerously narrow vision of the knowledge society and the place of the university in it.
It is misguided in the strategies it proposes - even to meet its own stated goals of promoting access, innovation and accountability.
The Celtic Tiger years, and the undoubted improvements in university resources and research, may have created the illusion that the hard work of investing in the development of the university sector has been done. But there is still a long way to go before the conditions are put in place in Irish universities that will enable them to be sustainable, world-class centres of research.
Many commentators look to the US for a model of how this can be achieved.
However, compared to top public research universities in the US, Irish university departments teach more students with far fewer academic staff and far less administrative support.
The large private US universities, such as Harvard and Stanford, are often invoked as models for the Irish system. But these "private" universities have been built upon a variety of public and quasi-public supports that dwarf the resources put into Irish universities.
Massive financial endowments provide a financial base that Irish universities can only dream of. Huge inflows of public research funds - through the National Institute of Health, the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defence and other agencies - have been crucial to the development of research in even the most elitist "private" US institutions.
Ultimately, too, the US private universities are able to "cherry-pick" the US system only because of the extensive public system of universities and colleges across the US. When private funds flow into US universities they come in to the system as a top-up on significant public and internal funds.
Improving access too will require providing specialised attention for students with diverse backgrounds, often alien from the culture of the university. Can this be adequately provided through the mass education that is the standard across the Irish universities in which classes frequently consist of more than 200 students?
If access, skills and innovation are to be promoted in a sustainable way then policy must recognise that substantial and reliable public funding will continue to play a crucial role.
But the issue goes much deeper. It will be tempting to argue, as many do, that we need to put money into only those parts of the university that are responsive to the direct demands of business. But the goals of the university are not simply to promote economic growth. A vibrant university sector is essential to deepening democracy and to a rich, diverse cultural life.
Genuine democracy depends not only on elections but upon a rich variety of public spaces where debate can take place. This includes the political system and the media, but it also depends upon other spaces such as local partnerships, community groups, schools - and universities.
Similarly, we need spaces where we can reflect upon what kind of society we are and indeed want to be. A society that educates graduates with strong skills but with no time or talent for reflecting on what they want to do with those skills, will be a poorer society.
Furthermore, deepening democracy and providing a space for furthering our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world, will ultimately strengthen the economy. World-class research within the university depends on a strong intellectual community within the university sector, linked to other communities nationally and internationally.
Even the most specialised technological fields depend upon this broader intellectual community - paying attention to teaching, fostering links between the arts and sciences, and creating links between the university and public life are crucial to developing the research culture so central to the knowledge society and economy.
Science Foundation Ireland funding of information technology and biotech cannot substitute for a sustained and coherent research policy for the full range of disciplines within the university.
In recent months, we have seen that even sophisticated technical tasks can be done cheaper elsewhere.
But in the knowledge economy and society of the future, technology will only be one part of the story. The "richest" countries, economically and socially, will be those that develop deeper and more diverse sources of knowledge through democratic participation and cultural self-awareness and marry that to growing sets of technological skills.
The US is a poor model - it has "islands of excellence", disconnected from a society which is built around an increasing digital divide. We would be better off to look to the Scandinavian countries that have promoted innovation while deepening citizenship and building a knowledge economy around a knowledge society.
Universities are a crucial element in linking together the acquisition of new skills and capabilities with democracy and culture. If they are made increasingly dependent upon industry funding, the space available in our society for open debate and discussion will shrink and the economy will ultimately be damaged. A university sector that promotes democracy, cultural reflection and innovation will require a sustained programme of development - this work has had a good beginning in recent years but must continue.
We should not mistake private funding of research for a broad social accountability of the university. Nor should we take relevance of research to commercial applications as the definition of quality.
Universities should (and do) pursue "quality" but the definition of quality must be a rich one - including at least the promotion of innovation, cultural reflection and democratic debate.
Universities too must be held accountable - but accountability cannot be a slavish devotion to the needs of funders or the demands of the state, but to the genuine needs of the whole society.
Seán Ó Riain is Professor of Sociology, NUI, Maynooth