TU Dublin governing body promises action on university’s finances following HEA criticism

The chairman of the governing body at Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) has written to staff saying it will become more involved in aspects of running the institution “normally reserved to executive management” after criticism from the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

A letter sent to governing body chairman Dr Charles Larkin last week by HEA chief executive Dr Alan Wall said that in the wake of a meeting between them concerning the “deteriorating financial position of TU Dublin”, he had “serious concerns with the apparent lack of urgency, responsiveness and conduct by the governing body to address this matter in a timely and constructive manner”.

He said that in the wake of a number of external reports on the financial issues at the university, its governing body had a “fiduciary duty and a statutory responsibility to manage and control the institution and to ensure the ongoing viability and sustainability of the institution”.

“Strong leadership is critical to the delivery of TU Dublin’s financial wellbeing, operational resilience, performance and reputation. There is a requirement for strategic, adaptive and timely responses to these matters, which are of serious concern to me,” he said.

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Citing powers provided by Section 64 of the HEA Act 2022, Dr Wall ordered the governing body to commence a review of its own handling of the financial crises at the institution and provide its assessment along with a plan of proposed actions by April 21st.

There is a provision for this date to be extended by a month, he told Dr Larkin, but he said the report would be forwarded to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Simon Harris, when completed and Dr Wall would decide whether further action was required at that stage.

In a letter to staff on Tuesday, Dr Larkin said: “The governing body has noted the contents of the letter from the HEA to its chairman and intends to respond in full.

“The governing body recognises that this new HEA process requires a level of involvement from the governing body normally reserved to executive management. The governing body is committed to so engaging.”

On Monday the president of TU Dublin, Prof David FitzPatrick, said in an email that “the key outline working principles for a financial recovery plan” would be sent to Dr Larkin and other key governing body members by Wednesday.

[ TU Dublin faces €10m funding deficit as student numbers drop by almost 2,500 ]

In a memo, he told the university’s staff the overall deficit for the 2022/23 financial year was €8.6 million, “equivalent to 2.4 per cent of our income of €362 million last year”.

“We have the ambition to restore a healthy financial situation in the medium term. Our strategic plan 2024-28 sets us the ambition of growing our student enrolments by 12 per cent and achieving a surplus of 4 per cent in our operating income by 2028,” he said.

In a statement, the university said it is taking “the elimination of our deficit very seriously and is working on a recovery plan to restore a balanced budget and to move into a surplus situation. Once drafted, this plan will be agreed upon with our governing body and shared with the HEA.”

The university has been engaged with the HEA over its financial problems since early last year. In June it reported a significant drop in student numbers at a time when registrations across the sector generally were growing substantially.

As a large part of the university’s funding is based on the number of students it has, this further affected revenues.

The HEA ordered an external review which was carried out in the latter part of 2023.

TU Dublin was established in January 2019, the product of a merger between the existing Dublin Institutes of Technology, but it has since been hit by a number of problems related to the reorganisation of its internal staffing and structures.

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