TEACHER'S PET:Ten days after that big research merger between UCD and TCD, the education sector is beginning to critically examine some of the hyperbole which accompanied the alliance.
The claims made on launch day were quite extraordinary and bear repetition. The new merger talked of a potential to create 30,000 new jobs and some 300 new businesses within a decade. There was heady stuff about creating a new Nokia in Ireland and talk of an enterprise corridor linking the two universities.
Indeed, it is now known that some in the merger discussions were anxious to claim that up to 75,000 jobs could be created before some wider counsels intervened.
But do the UCD/TCD figures add up?
Certainly, there is a huge degree of scepticism in Government circles, in the Department of Education, in the Higher Education Authority and critically within the research community itself.
Some senior figures say the potential investment in the merger – just over €600 million – would do well to generate a small fraction of the jobs and new business claimed by UCD and TCD. And, of course, there are no absolute guarantees that investment in research will deliver sustainable jobs.
So why did the two colleges make such lavish claims? And have they made themselves a hostage to fortune?
Next Monday, the school gates will be locked and the kids will be at home as the teacher unions take industrial action as part of the wider Irish Congress of Trade Unions protest.
While the battle over the pension levy appears lost, the unions hope to put down a marker about more public service cuts before next the dreaded April 7th Budget.
TUI and INTO members backed the day of action in impressive numbers. But the ASTI cannot be happy with the response to its ballot.
Some 40 per cent of members voted to reject the call for industrial action, defying the recommendation of their own leadership. Worse still, only 7,687 of the ASTI’s 17,000 members bothered to vote on this key issue.
Got any education gossip? E-mail us, in confidence, at teacherspet@irishtimes.com
