Teknovis

The decline of Irish universities continues, and there are no longer any in the global top 100, according to No Irish universities make top 100 list. (I wrote about this most recently in Irish Universities Fall Further.)

However, I disagree with one issue in the article:

Today’s list will raise renewed questions about a long-term funding base for higher education. Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn has signalled that the student contribution fee, currently €2,250, will rise to €3,000 within three years.

But university presidents say even this will not be enough as their budgets are only about 60 per cent of those available to comparable colleges in the UK and the rest of the EU.

I am not convinced that the fall can be attributed solely to revenues! I also think that we radically need to restructure the costs (particularly the staff costs) within education.

In my experience the abilities and calibre of Irish students must also be a factor, and these appear to be in free fall :(