When the abolition of fees is taken into account, direct support per student for universities fell by €1,240 between 1995 and 2001, according to a report.
Dr Seamus Smyth, chairman of the Conference of Heads of Irish Universities (CHIU), said the sector has coped over this period by increasing productivity but is now at the limits where cracks are beginning to show.
Dr Smyth was speaking at the laucnh of a study on funding for the third-level sector commissioned from FarrellGrantSparks (FGS) Consulting by CHIU.
According to the FGS Paper, the sector in Ireland, with 73,000 students enrolled, has been a major contributor to economic growth over the past five years with investment in university education providing significant returns both to the public good and to individuals.
Recognising the important contribution of the sector and the vital role it has to play in embedding a knowledg-based economy, the Government has set the target of Ireland's university sector being in the top rank of OECD countries.
However, the study says that across most of the key comparators, Ireland lies around mid table and the gap between Ireland and the top rank is set to widen.
"There now appears to be clear disconnect between the ambition of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment for our knowledge-based economy and the current policy being pursued by the Departments of Education and Science and Finance," Dr Smyth said.
Other findings of the report are:
- Ireland is ranked joint 16th out of 28 countries in terms of spend on third-level relative to per capita GDP.
- Ireland is ranked 17th out of 28 countries in terms of actual amount spent on each third level student.
- Ireland's universities have a worse student:teacher ratio than universities in 15 out of 20 countries.