The four universities who have lost out in the battle to provide new postgraduate courses in medicine this year have called a joint meeting for early next week.
Last night, one senior academic described the decision to allow the University of Limerick (UL) to take a lead role in graduate medical education as "nothing less than astounding".
The four members of the Irish Universities and Medical Schools Consortium (IUMC) - UCD, Trinity, UCC and NUI Galway - have been asked by an international panel to submit revised bids for a graduate entry programme, while UL will eventually admit 108 postgraduates.
This has angered members of the IUMC, who, unlike UL, already run undergraduate medical schools.
The allocation of places in the new graduate entry medical programmes was made by an international panel of experts after tenders from UL, the IUMC and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. The panel recommended 30 places for UL in 2007, rising to 108 and 30 for the RCSI rising to 40. The IUMC will be allocated the other 92 places - but only after the four universities have submitted revised bids.
Last night, sources said the recommendations of the assessment panel - established by the Higher Education Authority - were endorsed by Minister for Education Mary Hanafin and brought to Cabinet for approval on Tuesday without any amendment.
The four universities who lost out will be briefed on the assessment process by the HEA later today.
The various submissions for the postgraduate entry were assessed on the basis of key criteria including:
Overall quality of the submission.
Evidence of research capability and innovation.
Evidence of co-operation and collaboration between third level colleges.
One senior academic said yesterday: "I cannot understand how the universities lost out. We had agreed to co-operate as never before and we have an outstanding track record in medicine. But we lost out to a college with no Irish partner and no track record."
As part of their submission, the IUMC had agreed unprecedented levels of co-operation and new procedures where a joint authority - outside each college's own structures - would run the graduate medical school.
The four universities are furious because the Government has been exhorting all third level college to collaborate, as part of the drive to boost the international standing of Irish universities.
Last night, UL officially refused to get involved in exchanges with the other colleges. But sources said the UL medical school will have a far greater community orientation than existing medical schools.
The UL course will provide students with early patient contact and will have a major emphasis on the development of clinical skills, including communication skills .
A total of 240 graduate medical places will be phased in over four years. The Government has been under pressure to reform medical education because of the shortage of doctors.
