WE may like to think of our third-level institutions as centres of excellence and bastions of academic freedom, but when it comes to equality of opportunity, the colleges still leave a lot to be desired. Less than 13 months before the Millennium, there remains a dearth of women in senior academic and management roles in our colleges and universities, while issues of sexual orientation, ethnicity, disadvantage and disability are only beginning to be addressed.

Aine Hyland, professor of education at UCD, highlights the fact that she is one of only two female professors in her institution. "Ten or 15 years ago, I would have expected to see a much greater change," she says. There have always been women, who have achieved powerful third-level positions despite the system, but the current situation is such that things will never improve unless a real effort is made to target women, Hyland now concludes.

Figures supplied by the Higher Education Equality Unit (HEEU) show that just over one in five full-time academic staff of junior lecturer grade upwards are female. In NUI Galway women accounted for only 16 per cent of such staff in 1996/97, while in TCD just one-fifth of academic staff were female.

"Despite over 20 years of equality legislation, the overall situation remains largely unchanged," a HEEU report states. "Horizontal and vertical segregation persist, with few women holding top positions in the colleges, and many women working in part-time, temporary, insecure positions."

Recently, women academics in UCD accused the college of "direct discrimination against women" in its appointment of a number of associated professors. They claimed that there was "substantial evidence that a number of the unsuccessful female applicants are better qualified for promotion on the specified criteria than the successful male applicants."

Although women represented almost one-fifth of applicants, an overwhelming 97 per cent of those awarded associate professorships were male. The case has been referred to the Employment Equality Agency.

At a recent conference organised by the Equal Opportunities Unit at UCC, both speakers and audience were critical of the sheer number of access programmes devoted to the disadvantaged. "Pilots," remarked one speaker, "we're sick to death of pilots. Let's do something at national policy level." Pilots, however worthy and effective, produce only minimal results.

THE NUI points out that four years after the publication of the White Paper, which proposed an annual increase in third-level participation of 500 students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, progress has been very slow. The NUI estimates that, by now, its total share of the 500 disadvantaged students should be in the region of 175 a year. "The reality is," the NUI says, "that the number of people so admitted to the constituent universities in 1998 is fewer than 100."

The NUI believes that the main barriers to be overcome by disadvantaged students in higher education are financial. In its pre-budget submission to the Minister for Education and Science, the NUI has sought an increase in the Hardship Fund from the 1998 level of £150,000 to £3 million in 1999. This would allow funds to be targeted towards poorest students, who are recruited through special initiatives, the NUI suggests.

As a result of the budget, £6.9 million is to be allocated over the next two years to tackle third-level disadvantage issues. Almost half of this will be used to promote access amongst disadvantaged students, a further £2.4 million will extend the maintenance grant scheme for mature students while £1.5 million will address non-completion of courses.

When it comes to issues of disability at third level, Patricia Callaghan, director of the Association for Higher Education Access and Disabilities (AHEAD), believes that it's less a case of unwillingness to help on the part of the institutions and more a case of a lack of funding. AHEAD estimates that up to 1,300 students with disabilities are in the sector, and the number is growing. Almost all the colleges, she says, now have disability officers or, at the least, a designated person to be contacted about disability issues.

However, there is a clear need for sufficiently resourced staff who can develop disability programmes, structures and policies. AHEAD is lobbying for the establishment of a grants' system, for students with disabilities, which would enable them to acquire necessary assistance - sign language interpreters for the deaf, for example.

"Colleges," Callaghan argues, "must have clear admissions policies for non-standard students, since the points system is an inherent barrier to many people with disabilities." Third-level curriculums need to be made more flexible in order to accommodate disabled students - some modules may be unsuitable for them - fieldwork in some subjects, for example - and they may need to substitute, she says.

OVER the years, the universities may have been less than active in a range of areas, but all this is now set to change. Section 18 (b) of the Universities Act requires governing bodies "to have regard to the attainment of gender balance and equality of opportunities among the students and employees of the university and shall, in particular, promote access to the university by economically or socially disadvantaged people and by people from sections of society significantly under-represented in the student body."

Under the legislation, the universities are required to prepare statements of policy on economically or socially disadvantaged access, people with disabilities and on people from minority groups. The policy statement will also include "equality, including gender equality in all activities of the university." The colleges will then be required to implement these policies.

Under section 49 of the Act, the HEA is required to assist universities in achieving equality objectives, review strategies, procedures and policies and publish a report on the outcome of any such review.

The HEA, though, is committed to taking a relatively softly-softly approach to these matters. "We are focusing on working with the universities to achieve a positive outcome," stresses Dr Don Thornhill, chairman of the HEA. The HEA will continue to fund third-level initiatives to improve access by schoolleavers from disadvantaged areas, programmes for mature students and students with disabilities, he notes.

Meanwhile, the HEA intends to review good practice in equality policies both in Ireland and abroad. In the year 2000, it will commission a review of the actions and policies of the universities and procedures of the universities in promoting equality.

WHILE the Universities Act is strong on equality of opportunity, its counterpart in the technology sector - the Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992 - is far less so. Section 7 (5) of the Act merely states: "In performing its functions a governing body shall have regard to the attainment of gender equity and of equality of opportunity in education."

This begs the question: who is going to assist the ITs in this work and review their equality strategies and policies? Or should they be allowed greater autonomy than universities?