LEFTFIELD:AS READERS of The Irish Times know, there have been serious differences of opinion recently about the structure of Irish higher education. Put briefly, a number of institutes of technology – possibly all of them, by the time you read this – have declared in clusters that they are seeking a new status, that of a "technological university".
But representatives of Irelands existing universities have questioned the wisdom of adding to their number. So the university heads have been called “arrogant”, while those heads themselves have called plans for new universities “reckless”.
How did all this come about? For some time now, a small number of institutes of technology have been looking for university status. It started with DIT, which made an unsuccessful application in the 1990s. Later, it indicated it would apply again, and then institutes in Waterford and Cork also declared they would seek university status.
Under existing law – the Universities Act 1997 – any institution seeking to be a university must satisfy a number of conditions relating to its objects and functions, and a special panel with international experts must back the case. Last year, the report of the group chaired by Colin Hunt (National Strategy for Higher Education) concluded that “there is no case for the establishment of any new universities in Ireland” and that “no application to convert any institute of technology into a university should be considered”. That seemed clear enough, but then the report suggested that “there may be a case for facilitating the evolution of some existing institutes, following a process of consolidation, into a form of university that is different in mission from the existing Irish universities.” The Hunt group suggested that this different “form” of institution might be called a “technological university”.
The report confused the debate somewhat, apparently suggesting in one passage that there should be no new universities, and in another that there should be, but that they should be “different” and operating in clusters. It has to be said that this doesn’t really make any sense.
First, Hunt’s suggestion that there is some sort of internationally recognised category of “technological university” is highly questionable. One particular grouping that uses this description is the Global Alliance of Technological Universities, which has a number of member institutions, amongst them the Georgia Institute of Technology (“Georgia Tech”), Imperial College London and Nanyang University of Singapore. These are some of the world’s most prestigious universities. With the greatest respect to Ireland’s institutes of technology, they are not in the same league. Neither are the members of this Global Alliance in some way different in mission or standard from other universities.
What was suggested by Hunt, and what has been taken up by others including the new President of WIT, is that the new Irish “technological universities” will have a “different mission” from existing institutions. This is perhaps the most misleading assertion of all, because it suggests that existing universities are all of one kind. This is not the case. There is a huge difference between the institutional mission of Trinity College Dublin, say, and that of Dublin City University. But, both are judged by the same standards and must satisfy the same conditions of performance and excellence.
The problem with this debate is that it has been based on all the wrong questions. The Waterford lobby, for example, have argued for WIT’s university status because of the perceived need for a university in the South-East. But this is completely irrelevant to the issue, or if it is relevant, it would require a university in every town in Ireland.
I believe a good case could be made by some institutes, and WIT in particular is a fine institution. But the idea of “technological universities” is nonsense. There is an existing framework for universities, and it should continue to apply. Irelands reputation requires it.
Ferdinand von Prondzynski is Principal of Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
