THE PROCESS which could lead to the establishment of a technological university in the south-east, and possibly elsewhere, is moving forward. Last week, the Higher Education Authority (HEA) agreed new rules governing the establishment of a TU; these are set to be agreed by Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn shortly. The way will then be clear for various institutes of technology in the south-east, in Dublin, in Munster and in the Border Midlands West region to apply for TU status.
Thus far, debate has focused largely on the application by the institutes of technology in Waterford and Carlow for TU status. The decade-long campaign by the south-east for university status has the support of two Cabinet heavyweights – Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan and Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin. In education circles the establishment of a Technological University (TU) of the South East is already regarded as a virtual certainty. Mr Quinn, meanwhile, has been quick to reassure the Dáil that any decision will be taken in accordance with strict academic criteria - with no political interference in the process.
The TU proposal emerged from last year’s Hunt report on higher education. Hunt said bluntly there was “no case for the establishment of any new universities in Ireland’’. He went further, suggesting no application to convert any institute of technology into a university should be considered. Curiously, the report then suggested there “may be a case for facilitating the evolution of some existing institutes ... into a form of university that is different in mission from the existing Irish universities’’ – a technological university. The 14 institutes of technology have built on this to set out their case for redesignation as technological universities.
University presidents view these developments with dismay. They say the establishment of new universities makes little sense when the current system is seriously underfunded. In return, the institutes accuse the universities of elitism, pointing out how both the UL and DCU benefited from redesignation.
Amid the sound and the fury, the sole imperative for Mr Quinn and the HEA must be to safeguard academic standards. This process has made a good start. By any standards, the new criteria governing the establishment of a TU are challenging. The institutes have been told to deepen their research capacity and boost the number of staff and students at masters and doctorate level. Critically, they have also been told to modernise their work practices, where long summer holidays and short working hours are still common. As an additional protection, the HEA insists all applications for TU status will be assessed by an internationally renowned panel of experts. All of this is encouraging. There is a priori no maximum or minimum number of universities for this State. Each application by the IoTs should be judged on its own merits. The criteria set out by the HEA must be binding on all parties. It is up to the institutes themselves to see if they can meet this challenge – but there must be no political interference in the process.