PR0FILE: JOHN HENNESSY, CHAIRMAN, HIGHER EDUCATION AUTHORITY:John Hennessy is one of the first HEA chairmen to be drawn from the private sector. But will his business experience be a help or a hindrance in the battles to come, asks LOUISE HOLDEN
IT’S THE AGENCY that should and shouldn’t be axed. It’s the chairmanship that should and shouldn’t be scrapped. How can John Hennessy get a sure grip on the reins of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) when his role, and his organisation, have been called into question by academics, economists and the OECD?
Hennessy, former head of Ericsson Ireland, joins the HEA as its chair only 18 months after UCD economist Colm McCarthy recommended that the body be “snipped” and its functions drawn back into the Department of Education and Skills.
Hennessy, an engineer by training, was appointed amid rumours that Brain Cowen pulled rank to instate him over the head of then education minister Mary Coughlan. It’s not the first time that a HEA chair appointment has set tongues wagging. Hennessy’s predecessor, Michael Kelly was allegedly “parachuted” in from the Department of Health, on a principal officer salary, not long after OECD rumblings about the gratuity of appointing a HEA chair at all, when there is a well-paid chief executive, Tom Boland, in place already.
Only weeks into the job and Hennessy is getting lashed on the blogs. Among his first public utterances as chair was a call to humanities and social science researchers to desist “holding their noses” and get into bed with industry. “A central government agency trying to intervene with humanities to direct them toward promoting industry and the ‘smart economy’ is a farcical endeavour,” said one leading academic.
In tandem with Hennessy’s appointment came the deeply unpopular ECF 2, the Employment Control Framework that irate academics say will kill off Irish research competitiveness and undermine academic freedom.
All in all, taking up the chair of the HEA looks like an inauspicious move for an accomplished industry leader like Hennessy.
But there’s more than one way to read the runes.
“John Hennessy is the first non-executive chair of the HEA. It should have been done years ago. He’s also the first to come from a purely industrial background which is significant,” says a HEA insider who believes that Hennessy’s appointment marks a promising departure for the statutory body charged with planning and developing higher education and research. It is also the funding authority for the universities and institutes of technology.
“Recruiting the chairman from industry speaks to a number of government objectives. It is designed to foster better working relationships between industry and academic activities. There are plenty of public servants in the HEA already. He’s a man for the times.”
It’s no surprise that the last government would seek to massage relations between higher education and industry when highly-favoured immigrants such as Google and Intel openly roasted Irish graduates on the grounds of declining standards last year.
The appointment of a pure-bred industrialist will be seen as a commitment to bridging the gaps that exist between academia and business.
Hennessy is an interesting figure in Irish business. He was, until recently, the Irish head of a global corporation that has held its Irish base and avoided the worst effects of the recession. He joined Ericsson as an engineer almost 30 years ago and worked in technology, marketing and business with the company before being appointed managing director of Ericsson Ireland in 2003.
The Tipperary-born father and grandfather is said to be strong on RD and resists prevailing opinions about Ireland’s manufacturing future.
“John is on the IBEC national council and has always pushed the European dimension of foreign direct investment. There’s much made of the US role and we often forget the strong European presence here in the shape of companies such as Ericsson and Siemens,” says a colleague from industry. “He makes a strong case for the manufacturing sector in Ireland – an unpopular view in recent years when the trend has been to write off Ireland’s manufacturing base. Hennessy has always argued that strong economies like Germany are underpinned by robust manufacturing and Ireland should be too.”
Hennessy holds the trump card-du-jour; he has a track record of bringing jobs to Ireland. Under his leadership at Ericsson, operations here expanded considerably.
“He knows where Ireland is at and where its strengths lie,” says an observer from the business community.
“With an engineering background, high-tech sector experience and familiarity with the global business landscape, he’s the ideal candidate for the job right now.”
Meanwhile the HEA has received a shot in the arm from the report of the National Strategy Group on Higher Education headed by Dr Colin Hunt, which recommends strengthening the authority and has provided a timely foil to Colm MacCarthy’s Bord Snip Nua report.
“The Hunt Report will be Hennessy’s main focus over his five years as chair,” says a higher education figure. “He will be looking to implement its key recommendations. He is determined that this report will not gather dust.
“Hennessy is a pragmatist, not the type who will stand on a principle. He will take a business approach to the job, he will want his strategies implemented with a much faster turnaround time than your average public servant would take.”
Not everyone will warm to him, some predict. “Many in the academic community won’t like him,” says a colleague. “He’s a very blunt speaker and sees the HEA as a leader, not a sideline player.” At least one academic has questioned Hennessy’s public comments on the humanities and queried what it means for the policy direction of the HEA.
“I am very worried about the HEA like most serious academics are,” says one. “They are way over-stepping any reasonable view of how an agency like them should function and, in that regard, Hennessy’s reported remarks sound even more worrying.
The idea that science has demonstrated its value to society but humanities hasn’t, as the newspapers have reported Hennessy as saying, doesn’t stand up to the remotest scrutiny.”
A supporter suggests that academic criticism of Hennessy is inevitable. “The appointment of someone from his background feeds paranoia about utilitarianism in higher education.”
The relationship between the HEA and higher education has not been helped in recent weeks by the “awful language” issuing from the Department of Finance under the imprint of the HEA, especially on the issue of the Employment Control Framework.
The language of bureaucracy spoken in the HEA’s name may be alienating some stakeholders at the moment, but there is also a sense that the HEA is in a stronger position now than it has been for some time. The winding up of the HEA was, at one stage, a policy objective of Fine Gael. That’s off the table now.
“In the context of the perceived weakness of light-touch regulation across the economy, the role of the HEA has been reconsidered,” says one.
Following the cavalier spending habits of the universities, recently revealed by the Public Accounts Committee, there’s a renewed appetite for the HEA, reinforced by the recommendations of the Hunt Report. Expect to see a more active HEA in future, says a close observer.
“To be appointed chair of the HEA at this time is significant. There is an opportunity for John Hennessy to leave a mark.”
Hennessy's brief
John Hennessy’s five year term as chair of the Higher Education Authority will be marked by efforts to implement the recommendations of the Hunt Report, observers predict.
What aspects of the report is the former Ericsson chief likely to prioritise?
The strategy group recommends a “process of evolution and consolidation” for the institute of technology sector.
Hunt calls for reform of student financing mechanisms, including a form of direct student contribution based on a fee with a deferred payment facility.
The group recommends that funding for research “should be based on national priority-setting exercises” identifying “a number of thematic areas in which Ireland can excel, make its mark internationally and maximise economic and social return”.
The report calls for the strengthening of the HEA’s role in higher education.
