The National University of Ireland is to be dissolved, giving full independence to its four constituent universities. The decision was taken by the government as part of its public sector reform agenda - but has sparked off a strong reaction from opposition parties and across the education spectrum.

The NUI, which celebrated its centenary in 2008, is a federal institution comprising four constituent universities and six associated colleges, including the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland which was founded in 1784. The university has 250,000 alumni worldwide.

Defending the decision, Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe said some of its functions were reduced by the 1997 Universities Act and there was no need to have a separate body undertaking a limited set of functions. The four universities issue their own awards.

One of the NUI's remaining functions is to determine matriculation requirements for entry to courses and it has insisted the Irish language be a requirement for most of them. This helped preserve the status of the language in a country where it is spoken on a daily basis by a minority of people.

Each university will now determine its matriculation requirements and there are fears that over the next few years, pressure will grow to ease the Irish language stipulation. There are also concerns about the disappearance of the NUI 'brand name' abroad where it is well known.

One of the constituent universities, NUI Galway, has announced that it is to retain its name, despite the fact the NUI itself will cease to exist.

The federated university has only had five chancellors in its history, with one of them, the late President of Ireland, Eamon de Valera serving from 1921 to 1975 - surely a world record.

Current Chancellor Dr Maurice Manning is also President of the Irish Human Rights Commission. Manning said the abolition of NUI would be a loss to Irish higher education and also a loss in cultural terms.

His immediate predecessor, former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Dr Garret Fitzgerald, has raised concerns over another aspect of the Minister's announcement promising an amalgamated qualifications and quality assurance agency to determine, inter alia, the quality of university degrees.

"This proposal would undermine the assurance of university autonomy which was a key element of the 1997 Universities Act, and which is of fundamental importance to our society," Fitzgerald said.

"Political involvement in the quality of degrees through control by a statutory agency carries obvious dangers because, in relation to higher education, governments sometimes actively pursue non-academic objectives of an economic, or alternatively populist, character.

"That is why, during my 36 years as a member of the NUI Senate and 11 years as Chancellor, I sought to maintain the honourable tradition of an earlier chancellor who was also a politician and Taoiseach, Eamon de Valera, by consistently resisting political interference in university affairs. And that is why I urge the government to reconsider this aspect of their proposal."

There is no immediate sign of that happening but the Minister is to meet the heads of the four universities within the next few days to discuss the government's decision.

The four universities making up the NUI are:

* University College Cork
* University College Dublin
* National University of Ireland, Galway
* National University of Ireland, Maynooth

The recognised colleges are the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the National College of Art and Design, Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Shannon College of Hotel Management, and the Institute of Public Administration, but that is maybe too much information and doesn't meet the point.
NUI's web site carries that info and is at www.nui.ie

john.walshe@uw-news.com


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