Madam, – In relation to the future of Irish universities, Prof. John Kelly (Opinion, April 16th) presents a horrific prospect in calling for the Government to “reassert its authority and introduce the changes necessary to meet the needs of the current and future generations”.
I can think of few things more likely to degrade the quality of our universities than direct government intervention.
Firstly, the Government’s track record in reform of areas such as healthcare is little short of disastrous. Political vulnerability, leading to excessive deference to vested interests, means that Government is rarely in a position to come up with clear, realistic, targeted planning. The result is more often than not a dog’s dinner.
Further, I reject the notion that government has an automatic right to dictate to the universities. Even if government provides the money to pay university fees, that gives them no particular entitlement. I might spend a lot of money every month at Brown Thomas, but that doesn’t entitle me to tell the management of that company how to run their business. Political domination of university teaching and of basic research, whether in science or in the humanities, strikes me as a very dangerous proposition. The healthiest relationship between government and the universities is an arms-length one.
– Yours, etc,