Irish Universities among the most constrained staffing in Europe - IUA

IRISH universities face greater restrictions and lack of flexibility when it comes to staff recruitment, salary determination and promotions, ranking 24 out of 35 European higher education systems in a detailed analysis by the European University Association (“EUA”).

The restrictions, arising from the government-imposed Employment Control Framework, limit overall staffing and prohibit permanent contracts for non-core staff in universities.

The new scorecard ranks 35 higher education systems across Europe, focusing on autonomy in universities across four dimensions: Organisational, Financial, Staffing, and Academic.

Ireland ranks 18th in financial autonomy, which includes the type and duration of public funding, the ability to borrow money, ownership of assets, and determination of tuition fees for national, EU, and non-EU students.

Ireland ranked 12th in organisational autonomy which encompasses presidential appointments, governing body membership, and development of academic structures.

Ireland ranked 3rd in academic autonomy which includes determining overall student numbers, introducing and terminating programmes, as well as designing content of programmes.

Commenting on the publication of the scorecard, Prof. Kerstin Mey, President of University of Limerick and Chair of IUA Council 2023 said: “The EUA autonomy scorecard is a very good benchmark for Ireland. While the ranking in academic autonomy is to be welcomed, staffing autonomy continues to be a problem in our universities.

“It is essential that the restrictive ceilings imposed by the Employment Control Framework on staff numbers in third level are relaxed or removed. The ECF may have served a purpose more than a decade ago as an austerity measure, but it is now limiting the capacity of the sector to adequately cater for student needs and resulting in an increase in casual or part-time staffing.”

THE government has confirmed approval has been given to the South East Technological University (SETU) to expand its presence in Waterford. SETU will purchase 20.3 acres of the 37-acre Waterford Crystal site, the entirety of what was offered to SETU, subject to the necessary due diligence requirements.

The President of SETU Professor Veronica Campbell said: “Our work to realise a University-Enterprise Quarter on the Waterford Crystal site will begin now in earnest and we look forward to developing this vision with all of our stakeholders and regional partners.

“As a university embedded in our region our ambition is to bring together academia, research, industry and our communities to create a hub of knowledge, learning, enterprise, innovation and creativity.”

Speaking in Waterford, Minister Simon Harris said: “We know the history of this site. Once a bustling site of business and tourism, the site has been largely derelict since the closure of Waterford Crystal over 14 years ago. This will become a bustling site for students, research, enterprise and for the people of Waterford through creation of an active and dynamic University-Enterprise Quarter."