Unprecedented funding for research and development has heralded a transition period for our universities and contributed to increased competition and so called "poaching" of key personnel from the science and technology areas as the study of food and health gains particular emphasis, writes Áine Kerr
The State's universities are in transition; competition for funding and the scramble for international recognition is intensifying, amid increased tension and distrust.
The announcement of over €1 billion in funding for third level education was supposed to herald a new era of collaboration and partnership between the State's universities, with the Government specifying collaboration as one of the four key principles for accessing funding.
Instead, a relationship of distrust between University College Dublin (UCD) and some of the State's six other universities has evolved following allegations that UCD attempted to "poach" key personnel from its counterparts.
Central to the Government's aspirations of a knowledge economy is the science and technology arena, with the study of food and health gaining particular emphasis. It is within this area that so-called "poaching" of academics has arisen as universities strive to establish their profile and expertise in the areas to which the national and international lens now concentrates.
A university with a high-profile expert leading a research team can attract national and international interest, publicity and funding through the publication of papers, conferences, the creation of new and better products, and the development of new theories and solutions.
Only last week, UCD opened Wyeth Research Ireland, a €13-million diabetes research centre which will facilitate collaboration with hospitals, universities and pharmacies. Attracting such multinationals to Ireland, which will collaborate on research projects and provide graduates with the necessary skills to become national and international experts, remains a priority objective of the Government and universities.
The "poaching" controversy, however, comes at a time when the Government is due to allocate significant funding as part of the €300-million Strategic Innovation Fund.
Under the direction of its president, Dr Hugh Brady, UCD is aspiring to become one of the top 30 universities in Europe, focusing on key research areas which include food and health and diabetes.
The UCD Conway Institute, which houses the new biomolecular and biomedical research unit, the Centre for Synthesis and Chemical Biology and the Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre (DMMC) are the university's flagships for research and development.
In June, the university successfully recruited the State's foremost nutritionist, Prof Michael Gibney, and his research team of 19 people from Trinity College. Late last week, in a letter to the national newspapers, he wrote of the application and interview process through which he was recruited and rejected any suggestions he had been "poached" by UCD.
Gibney outlined the significant changes which have taken place in the field of nutrition and the work of the Irish University Nutrition Alliance between UCC, Trinity College and the University of Ulster in attracting research of €1 million per annum.
Following UCD's recruitment of Prof Shea Fanning, Prof Pat Wall and Prof Cecily Kelleher, Gibney said the university had placed itself in the position to be a leader in nutrition compared with Trinity College, where food and health is currently not a priority.
In recent months, the university has sought to recruit three international scientific researchers from NUI Maynooth who are in receipt of special funding from Science Foundation Ireland.
Overtures were also made to encourage a research team at NUI Galway, which had attracted significant research funding to the university, though no public advertisement of any kind was involved.
Its president, Dr Iggy O'Muircheartaigh, said that while the team in question remained with NUI Galway, such recruitment practices, if continued, would lead to a "grossly inflated internal transfer market" for key university academics.
Dublin City University (DCU) was one of the first universities to be approached by UCD over 12 months ago when a pool of four or five researchers were offered better facilities, larger research groups and better conditions by the UCD authorities.
However, it is understood that no researcher ever transferred to the Belfield campus and relations between the two universities did not suffer following what was the first and last attempt to poach key staff from DCU.
Over the course of the past 12 months, some universities attempted to broker a compromise with UCD in what has been repeatedly described as a "very sensitive" issue. However, sources believe UCD was steadfastly opposed to admitting any wrongdoing in its policy of trying to recruit academics from other universities.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) subsequently wrote to all seven universities asking for their suggestions on how an agreed code governing the mobility of staff might operate.
What followed was a draft collaboration protocol, the reluctance of the UCD president to sign the protocol and the intervention of the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and the Minister for Education Mary Hanafin.
In UCD itself, sources say the goodwill of staff is being eradicated amid repeated questioning of the incentives being offered to those considering transferring to UCD. In a statement last week, UCD's Siptu branch questioned if academics transferring to UCD were receiving extra inducements which "eventually must be paid from the wider resources of the university".
However, HEA chief executive Tom Boland says the authority is confident that no financial incentives have ever been offered to university personnel, adding that the authority would be "very concerned" if it discovered otherwise.
During this ongoing "poaching" controversy, the HEA has been primarily concerned with the fact that universities which invested in research projects and recruited international academics are now being left without the experts to oversee heavily invested programmes.
"There is a difficult balance between playing to your strengths but doing so without jeopardising the strengths and interests of other universities," he says.
The HEA perceives its future role as providing for a "joined-up" approach and combined strategy to the provision of higher education in Ireland in order to avoid duplication of research projects between the universities.
"We want and expect the universities to find a solution. If not, we will assist them to find a solution in the medium to long term," says Boland.
Prior to the apparent progress in finding an agreement on the collaboration protocol, following a meeting between Brady and Hanafin, university presidents described relations as "dire" and "tense" between some of the main universities and UCD.
However, many senior figures are now adamant that a compromise must be agreed at the next meeting of the IUA before the Government intervenes. That compromise is likely to centre on the need to provide for a market where researchers can apply for a position in an open and transparent formal process, to the removal of any informal negotiations and poaching of staff.
The president of DCU, Prof Ferdinand von Prondzynski, says he is determined to ensure a resolution can be found in the coming weeks so that external intervention from the Government is not required.
He maintains that universities must be active in recruiting researchers from abroad and facilitating the work of researchers between universities through collaborative partnerships.
Von Prondzynski surmises that universities must seek to create world class excellence and an environment in which academics can further their careers. "It is therefore perfectly in order for them to apply for jobs in other universities at any time; nothing must be done to restrict that. Allowing that is not 'poaching'," he says.
"However, where one university actively tries to persuade key experts in another to move in the absence of an open recruitment, this can affect the spirit of inter-institutional collaboration which is so important for the achievement of national priorities."
He says that anything that undermines collaboration is "dangerous", and that the proposed protocol must therefore be agreed and signed by all.
However, the prevailing concerns among UCD staff are unlikely to immediately dissolve, even if a resolution is found by the IUA.
Dr Kieran Allen, president of the Siptu branch in UCD, says the union will be working to achieve an open and transparent pay system.
He maintains staff took no issue with academics transferring to UCD from other State universities, once the position is created and advertised in an open system.
Following a meeting between Brady and Hanafin late last week, the issue which has dogged the State's universities for some months appears to be moving toward a resolution.
On emerging from their meeting, Brady said in the "wider scheme of things" the poaching controversy was a "storm in a teacup", adding that his reluctance to sign the protocol had been based on a "relatively small issue".
With Hanafin stressing the need to protect the reputation of the State's universities abroad, she says she has been assured by Brady that a resolution can be achieved in the short term.