The minister for Education will speak at a conference on equality in higher education to be held in Cork next week.

The conference, which is organised by the Higher Education Equality Unit (HEEU), will take place in the Aula Maxima in UCC next Monday and Tuesday, November 16th and 17th. The HEEU says inequality is still evident in the composition of staff in colleges and in the rates of access and participation of students from different backgrounds.

It hopes the conference will make college personnel "more aware of their obligations" under the 1997 Universities Act and the 1998 Equality Act which they say place "more stringent obligations on the colleges in relation to equality".