Madam, - You continue to publish letters based on a misunderstanding of the controversy about poaching of staff by UCD. It has nothing whatsoever to do with staff of the other six universities applying for posts at UCD that have been openly advertised in the usual way, in the pages of The Irish Times and elsewhere. The controversy is about UCD moving, without advertisement, to attract leading researchers and their teams from other Irish universities. It becomes particularly controversial when the other university has recruited those researchers by winning Government funds (through Science Foundation Ireland, and so on) in an open competition in which UCD was not successful.
Few commentators seem to have appreciated the international context in which UCD's practice has arisen. For many years, American universities have targeted leading academics at competing universities, and head-hunted them (though often under cover of an advertised post). During the last decade, British universities have increasingly copied the American model. Irish universities have become happy poaching grounds for British universities targeting rising stars, because in Ireland we stuck to the traditional mode of recruitment. At UCD, until recently, the rules about filling professorial posts were so rigid that there was no way in which we could make a counter-offer to retain a star researcher who was being poached.
Of course, once we had modified our rules to defend ourselves against poaching, it was only logical to permit ourselves the freedom to target and bring to UCD star staff in other universities. I should guess that no one would complain if we used our new freedom to poach from British or American universities. The controversy needs to be much more narrowly focused, on whether the new procedures can be used in effect retrospectively to alter the outcome of open competitions for Government funding. - Yours, etc,
STEPHEN MENNELL, Professor of Sociology, University College Dublin Belfield, Dublin 4.
Madam, - We must be very careful about any attempt to control artificially the employment market of academic staff.
Universities are being continually encouraged by the Government to increase their funding from non-traditional channels. It is generally accepted that the best way to secure this type of funding is through high-quality research.
This is the type of model which has been in operation in the United Kingdom and the United States for many years and is gradually being introduced in many European countries.
Fortunately, in Ireland we have high-quality researchers who are able to compete very successfully for research funding both nationally and internationally.
If these researchers are undervalued by their institution relative to their peers, then it is logical that they will look to move elsewhere. If Irish universities are unable to operate dynamic recruitment policies then it is likely that "elsewhere" will mean the United Kingdom and the United States. - Yours, etc,
Dr MARK HUTCHINSON, Lecturer in Finance, University College Cork.
