Student numbers in newly created third-level institutions have dropped over the past two years. The sector now faces strong headwinds
With the decline in enrolments, there is always the risk that the next Government cuts back on the TU agenda. Photograph: Bryan O'BrienEnrolments across the five new technological universities dropped 9 per cent in the past two years, whereas the eight universities grew 4 per cent.
TUs’ vital mission in supporting economic, social and cultural development outside of our cities is getting squeezed. TUs are essential to rebalancing the foolish overinvestment in Dublin, which has run at twice the per capita rate for more than a decade, even before Metrolink bleeds the country dry.
The Hunt report addressed system coherence, 50 years after the development of the old regional technical colleges . Some thrived and were seeking university status and others struggled. Students vote with the CAO points, picking colleges and courses from a wide, often national, menu. In the 1980s, few students owned cars, boreens and slow trains made commuting impractical, and universities were tiny places that trained priests, solicitors and weirdos too smart for their own good.
The new TU presidents, lured into the jobs with the promise of transformation, have found themselves managing prickly and underfunded mergers. The promised transformation agenda of new programmes and disciplines, particularly in pharmacy, veterinary, medicine and teacher training, new capital programmes, a new funding framework, new lecturer contracts, a borrowing framework and student accommodation programme, appears to be stalled.