Source: Mike Peel

Marie Clarke, of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, said the country was facing a ¡°very serious crisis in university education¡±.

Though levels of investment had increased from the mid-1990s, ¡°per capita expenditure remained modest by international standards throughout the period of growth and this expenditure has significantly decreased since 2009¡±.

An extended recession had meant ¡°major policy decisions¡­based almost exclusively on reduced resourcing for the sector¡±, leading to a situation where ¡°the outlook for growth and development is bleak¡±.

Dr Clarke, who was speaking at the union¡¯s Annual Delegate Conference in Dublin last weekend, said she was worried about plans for an increased role for the private sector in higher education, arguing that ¡°the universal, mutual-solidarity function of public services must remain the priority ¨C not the market¡±.

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She was also wary of ¡°the centralised and technical approach¡± to reforms proposed by Ireland¡¯s Higher Education Authority, which distributes funding to the sector, and critical of a process of consultation which had brought ¡°an over-reliance on international experts to tell us what is appropriate for our system¡±.

She was equally unsympathetic to ¡°the over-bureaucratisation of Irish universities at the expense of their core academic teaching and research function¡±, as revealed by figures showing that non-academic staff in universities and colleges now outnumber the academics.

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While most academics had seen their workloads increase and their salaries decline, Dr Clarke called particular attention to the ¡°disgraceful¡­treatment of our early career researchers and academics¡±, who now often ¡°have very fragmented employment experiences in the early years of their careers¡± as they ¡°move from position to position on short-term or part-time contracts¡±.

Citing evidence that ¡°the impact of Irish research is at an all-time high¡±, Dr Clarke warned that current levels of activity were being ¡°undermined by declining income levels, increases in staff¨Cstudent ratios and excessive administrative burdens¡±.

She noted that the strong emphasis on ¡°collaboration among academics, particularly with reference to bidding for research funding¡± tended to be ¡°management-led, rather than coming from the nature of the work of existing research teams¡±, which could only ¡°undermine the organic research process¡±.

¡°As academics,¡± she added, ¡°we must not take instruction from any government minister as to our research priorities and we must preserve and defend our right to academic freedom always.¡±

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matthew.reisz@tsleducation.com