A recent survey of graduates of the Mitchell Scholars Programme – which brings US students to postgrad studies in Ireland – offers a revealing outsider’s view of the highs and lows of our university sector
IT’S THE 10th-anniversary of the Mitchell Scholarship, the programme that brings a dozen of top students from the US to Irish universities for a year. Each graduate is chosen for his or her leadership potential and academic excellence, and the scholarship supports their masters studies, living costs and travel expenses. Many have gone on to work at a high level in government, business and the NGO sector in the US.
To mark the occasion, more than 100 former Mitchell scholars, 91 per cent of the entire cohort, have completed a survey documenting their experience and their assessment of Ireland and its universities. All have experience of the US university system, with many coming from Ivy League colleges such as Harvard and Yale.
The students’ observations of Irish education provide food for thought. All respondents said they’d recommend the Mitchell Scholarship to others, and four out of five said they would recommend their Irish university and their programme of study to other students.
Many of the commentaries are glowing and reflect Ireland and Irish universities in a very good light.
More illuminating for the university sector here, however, are the responses of the one in five students who said they would not recommend their university or course of study.
Trina Vargo, founder and president of the US-Ireland Alliance and the Mitchell Scholarship programme, reveals some of the reservations articulated by a sizeable minority of ‘Mitchells’.
HOW CAN IRISH UNIVERSITIES DO BETTER?
“The most serious complaint from Mitchells is that their programmes aren’t challenging and often repeat what they learned as undergraduates,” reveals Vargo. “The Mitchell attracts the very top students in the US, and they have to view their year in Ireland as part of an upward trajectory, not a v-shaped move,” she says.
So why did all the Mitchell graduates recommend the scholarship, if not all recommended the academic aspect at its core? Vargo’s response is sobering for a sector battling to better the international competition.
“Early on, we realised that if we were to convince some of the brightest students in the US to spend a year in Ireland and Northern Ireland – students who can as easily go to Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale – we would have to design a scholarship program that offered more than academics alone, since we couldn’t compete on the basis of university rankings,” she says.
On campus, the Mitchell scholars surveyed complain of the absence of a university “community”, with Irish students tending to go home at weekends to be with their families and friends from childhood. “The Irish are more likely to have the same friends from cradle to grave, they seem slower than Americans to take on new friends,” Vargo comments.
Overall, the academic aspect of the Mitchell experience is not regarded by participants as the heart of the programme. In terms of importance, the academic programme ranked fourth in the survey.
Students were much more taken with the opportunity to travel in Ireland and Europe and to enjoy the company of other scholars. This is unsurprising, given that the 12 Mitchells chosen each year share “academic excellence, leadership and a sustained commitment to service and community” – they are a group of high-achieving kindred spirits. The Mitchell Scholars Programme provides this group with tuition, housing, living expenses and an international travel stipend.
WHAT’S RIGHT WITH IRISH UNIVERSITIES?
Mitchell scholars enjoy true immersion into Irish life – spending Thanksgiving with Irish families, taking up high-level internships, and being feted by a wide range of groups ranging from politicians and diplomats to arts organisations and holy orders.
The “Irishness” of Ireland remains our best weapon, the smart economy notwithstanding.
“Seventy per cent of the Mitchells have already returned to Ireland or Northern Ireland since their Mitchell year and half say their Irish friends have come to visit them in the US,” says Vargo.
Where the Mitchells identified academics as a strength, it was in the areas where Irish universities offer something that is unique rather than competitive, Vargo reveals.
“What Irish universities see as their strength is often different from foreigners’ views. A very large number of applicants are interested in conflict resolution/peace studies/terrorism/human rights because of Ireland’s unique experience with the Troubles. The arts are always of interest, again because of Ireland’s prominence in these fields. Scholars also report that the Equality Studies program at UCD, the Immunology and Global Health program at Maynooth, and the Music Therapy programme at UL are programs that they cannot get at home.”
Mitchells who report satisfaction with their academic programmes also identify key people who made their experience memorable, says Vargo.
Academics who featured strongly in the survey include Declan Kiberd (Anglo-Irish literature, UCD), Professor William Schabus (International Law, NUIG), Piaras Mac Éinrí (Migration Studies, UCC), and the recently retired Paul Arthur (Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ulster).
WHAT’S THE LESSON FOR IRISH UNIVERSITIES?
“Universities can’t be all things to all people,” says Vargo. “To be efficient for the needs of Ireland, and competitive on an international level, they should carve out excellence in a few fields. Peter Sutherland had a point when he suggested that it’s not feasible for Ireland to have seven world-class comprehensive universities. Whether it is the number of universities or the number of programmes, there is clearly room for rationalisation.”
There are other lessons in this survey for a sector that is gearing up to attract increasing numbers of foreign students and their fees. The complaint that certain programmes introduce material that most Mitchells have already learned says something about the masters framework in Ireland.
“Irish universities do not assume that a person doing a taught masters has an undergraduate degree in the particular field of study. Several Mitchells have told us that had they had a better grasp of this, they would not have taken a masters in the field they studied as undergraduates. Also, in a US programme, the choice of subjects within the taught masters is often greater.
It is up to Irish universities to determine if this is a ‘problem’ for them in any way,” says Vargo. “We have to assume it’s not and therefore it may be more a matter of how we market the experience to Americans.”
Relevant marketing of the Irish university package to different jurisdictions will determine who draws the lucrative global student onto campus. “Perhaps the way to look at these one-year taught programmes, for Mitchells and other Americans contemplating graduate school in Ireland, is to see the year as a way to specialise, complement or transition,” Vargo suggests.
“For example, one Mitchell studied biochemistry and music as an undergraduate. He will eventually go to medical school. He used his Mitchell year to study Music Therapy at UL – something that complements his previous studies, but doesn’t repeat them.”
Funding, naturally, rears its head in this survey. Some Mitchells complain about library hours, says Vargo – a bugbear for the Irish students unions as well.
“American students expect that they should be able to get into the library at 2am on a Saturday. Keeping libraries open costs money and that may be an issue,” says Vargo.
“The universities need money. I strongly believe that, in order for Irish universities to be truly world class, they need funds that the state can’t provide, and that means fees.”
Ireland's call: What the scholars said
Despite some reservations, many scholars described their experience as 'life-changing'. The following are some comments from the survey.
"Taking part in the Mitchell experience ignited in me a passion for public education. Ireland is a place where all students have the opportunity to attend university."
"My MA research – interviewing political leaders in Northern Ireland – changed my view of the importance of grassroots community building with teens from divided societies."
"The relationship between the US and Ireland cannot always be held together by cultural affinity. Being Irish may one day be less about the colour of one’s eyes and hair and be more a statement of values."
"Contact with Ireland in the midst of this transition reinforced how important it is to work towards a society based on values and not one based on shared history."
"I feel personally tied to the Ireland and Irish issues in a way that I was not before the experience and could not have become without it. Professionally and personally, I see myself as an advocate of sorts for Irish affairs."
What's HOT and what's NOT hot.... according to the scholars
HOTCourses that they can't get in the US (eg Equality Studies at UCD, Immunology and Global Health at NUIM and Music Therapy at UL)
NOTShort/restrictive library hours
HOTInfluential and involved lecturers (such as Declan Kiberd, UCD, Prof William Schabus, NUIG, Piaras Mac Einri, UCC, and Paul Arthur, University of Ulster)
NOTRepetition of material in masters programmes
HOTThe Peace Process Irish hospitality
NOTUnchallenging study material and a lack of a sense of university community (everyone goes home at the weekend)
