TEN MEMBERS of staff at the National College of Ireland (NCI) in Dublin’s IFSC are to be made redundant under cost-cutting plans announced by the college president, Phillip Matthews.
Dr Matthews has decided to close NCI’s school of community studies. The move affects both academic and administrative staff.
NCI is privately funded, so staff do not enjoy the protection of the Croke Park agreement, which rules out any job losses for public service workers until 2014. The NCI board, chaired by businessman Denis O’Brien, is also to close the office of the NCI Foundation, which seeks philanthropic funding for the college.
The college is thought to be running a substantial current deficit. Although demand for its full-time degree courses (funded by the Department of Education) has increased, key revenue from part-time courses has declined.
The college’s room for expansion is inhibited by the Government decision to cap the number of NCI students at 925. The college has been unsuccessful in its demand to be run under the aegis of the Higher Education Authority.
NCI has a total staff of about 170. Up to 80 per cent of NCI’s students could be classed as “access”, which means they come from backgrounds and age groups different from those of the majority of third-level students.
The NCI moved into the IFSC more than 10 years ago from the small Ranelagh campus where it had served as a Jesuit-run industrial relations college for 50 years.
