TRAINING & EDUCATION
The relative impact of Irish research also appears to be declining as the rank for citations per faculty were lower this year at seven out of eight institutions. But this was in spite of higher average citations than last year, which did not match global average improvements. Concern is now growing that the reputation of the country’s education system is being damaged by the deteriorating international rankings of the country’s universities. Quality of education and a highly trained workforce is the key factor in attracting inward investment and the results will be of concern to policy makers. The president of the country’s biggest university UCD Professor Andrew Deeks said its fall from 86th to 536 in the QS rank of student-teacher ratios was a result of employment restrictions and reduced state funding, which he said can no longer be endured. “At a time when countries like China are investing billions into their best universities to reduce their studentteacher ratio to 10:1 and to raise their world standing, the Irish government perseveres with austerity level funding of Irish higher education,” Prof Deeks said. “As a direct result, Irish parents continue to pay the highest up-front fees for undergraduate education in Europe, and the standing of the Irish university system continues to decline relative to more ambitious systems,” he said. Despite an increase in public funding for third-level colleges by Education Minister Richard Bruton this year - with j100m more than a year ago now being invested - they continue to receive less than they did when
thousands fewer students were attending a decade ago. UCD said that non-Exchequer income now accounts for 65% of its annual income. Ibec, the group that represents Irish business, is alarmed by the continued slide of Irish universities in the QS Rankings and that Ireland can no longer claim a Top 100 university. Commenting on the influential world rankings, Ibec Senior Executive for Education and Innovation Policy, Claire McGee, said: “This outcome is a direct result of dire under investment into the higher education sector over the last decade. The lack of investment does not match or support the national ambitions to be a global education and innovation leader. “Investment in education, particularly higher education, must be regarded as a national infrastructure priority. Ireland’s return to economic growth and success is underpinned by highly talented and educated people. It is imperative that we invest in our universities and institutes. These rankings damage Ireland’s reputation to attract and embed foreign direct investment to create more high quality and technology jobs. In addition, it impacts the universities’ ability to bring leading international researchers and their teams, to undertake cutting edge science and innovations to support Irish business, to Ireland. “Ibec has long called for Government to act on the OECD recommendations from 2002 to introduce more balanced funding streams including income-contingent student loans. We must expedite the recommendations of the Cassell’s 2015 report and the overall process for higher education funding. We need to stop any further slide in rankings and the time to act is now.”
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