IRELAND: Expansion plans could see fees return

The Irish Government has been warned that it cannot meet its projected expansion in higher education without the reintroduction of tuition fees backed by a new system of loans which would be repaid by graduates once they start earning.

An income-contingent repayment scheme is just one of the many recommendations in a long awaited National Strategy report which will be officially published on Tuesday [11 January].

The strategy sets out a framework for the development of higher education in a country facing a general election and still reeling from being forced to go cap in hand to the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank for a bail-out following the country's banking crisis.

The final version of the report, leaked to the Irish Independent, calls for regional clusters of higher education institutions and mergers of smaller institutions, including institutes of technology as well as colleges with fewer than 500 students. It suggests that 40 institutions are too many for a country which has about 160,000 full-time students.

Official projections envisage an increase of up to 50% in enrolments over the next two and a half decades. This would necessitate an increase in recurrent government spending from EUR1.3 billion (US$1.7 billion) at present to EUR1.8 billion by 2020, and to EUR2.35 billion by 2030, at today's values. Such an increase would be necessary just to maintain current levels of resource per student which are well below top quartile expenditure in the OECD.

The only alternative is a new form of direct student contribution based on an upfront fee with a deferred payment facility.

What is not clear is who would put up the loans, given that the government is broke and the Irish banks are on their financial knees after years of reckless loans to developers. The report suggests the establishment of an expert group, with international representation, to design an appropriate loan system.

The report was commissioned by former education minister Batt O'Keeffe, a popular and sometimes populist politician who had publicly suggested that some faculty were teaching for only a few hours a week. Although an earlier draft was regarded by some insiders as lacking sympathy and understanding of universities in particular, the final version is more positive.

It quotes favourably an ECOFIN paper published in November 2009 by the European Commission, which found that Irish higher education displays comparatively high levels of efficiency, productivity, effectiveness and quality compared with other developed countries.

But it wants greater individual accountability for delivery of outcomes to prescribed standards and greater managerial discretion with regard to dealing with under-performance.

It also recommends more open-ended teaching term and teaching day arrangements to enable the flexible development (evenings and full-year availability) that will be necessary to meet students' needs and for outreach activities. In addition, it suggests the use where appropriate of teaching-only contracts.

The report notes the substantial increase in research and development in Ireland over the past two decades and suggests this be intensified to reach 3% of gross domestic product - nearly twice its present level.

john.waslshe@uw-news.com