ANALYSIS: The Minister does not want to be known for bringing fees back in but how will higher education be funded?
ONE STRAY protester carried a placard bearing the legend “Bring back REM” – but otherwise the army of students formed a strong, united force outside Government Buildings in Dublin.
It was an impressive show of strength. Students from every college in every corner of Ireland were represented.
Regardless of your views on the fees debate, it was uplifting to hear so many students affirming the value of higher education. And it was good to hear genuine concern among speakers that the poor and the disadvantaged could be locked out of college.
Will it all make any difference? Probably. The mobilisation of close to 20,000 students and their unswerving focus on those broken promises on fees by Ruairí Quinn must intensify the pressure on the Minister.
The stark truth is that Quinn made a rod for his own back when he signed that pre-election USI pledge promising no increase in student charges. Within weeks of coming into office as Minister, he was refusing to rule out fees.
In mitigation, Quinn claims the exchequer position was darker than he envisaged. But this lame excuse does not wash. He is vulnerable to the charge that the pre-election pledge on fees was a cynical attempt to capture the student vote at a time when the party was wobbling in the polls. USI is right to remind the Minister – and the wider public – of the Minister’s spectacular U-turn on the issue.
Quinn faces other pressures on fees, not least from the grassroots of his own party. For many party members, “free’’ access to higher education at the point of entry is a core principle. Party members are still proud of Labour’s key role in the abolition of student fees in 1995. On Newstalk radio yesterday, Quinn even claimed some credit – with former minister Niamh Bhreathnach – for the decision.
Many Labour backbenchers still point to this as one of the party’s crowning achievements. In recent weeks they have signalled they will not tolerate the return of fees.
Quinn has conflicting pressures bearing down on him from the higher education sector. The facts as outlined by the several expert reports on the sector are not disputed – even by the USI.
Broadly, it is acknowledged the higher education sector faces inevitable decline unless the funding crisis is addressed. Already, Irish universities are slipping down the world rankings as staff and spending cuts take their toll. For the first time, Ireland has no university inside the top 100.
This decline is not just of academic interest. The Government has identified the higher education sector as a key driver of economic growth and revival. It also needs a well-funded, well-regarded third-level sector to attract inward investment.
Higher education in Ireland is at a tipping point. Earlier this year, the Hunt report said annual funding for higher education must increase by €500 million a year, from €1.3 billion to €1.8 billion by 2020. This would allow it to maintain overall quality while coping with the projected 30 per cent increase in student numbers.
There is also broad agreement that higher education needs a long-term sustainable funding base – sooner rather than later.
But who should pay? Students? Parents? Those who gain from higher education? The taxpayer?
Ahead of the budget, Quinn and his officials are continuing to mull over these issues. The Minister accepts the gravity of the funding crisis facing our colleges and its long-term consequences.
But there is another imperative at work: Ruairí Quinn does not want to be be remembered as the Labour Minister who brought back fees.
All of this explains why the Minister is casting around for a middle ground which would generate more revenue for the colleges while holding fast to the “free’’ fees principle.
The latest indication suggests the Minister favours a series of staggered increases in the €2,000 student contribution fee.
Any such move won’t sort out the funding crisis across third level – and it would unleash an angry reaction from students.
But it may be that this is the best – or more accurately the least worst option – available to Quinn.
