UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS are considering a range of options - including the withdrawal of some third-level courses - amid growing anger about Government cutbacks.
A special meeting of the seven university presidents last Friday heard that the 3 per cent cut in payroll costs demanded by the Minister for Education, Batt O'Keeffe, will inevitably led to dramatic cuts in services for students.
This week, the university presidents are set to outline the scale of the funding crisis in a formal letter to Mr O'Keeffe.
The threat to cancel or trim courses for the academic year 2009-10 could be bad news for students. Any reduction in courses or in the number of places could see CAO points levels increase for these courses next year.
University presidents are furious the third-level sector has been singled out for cutbacks by the new Minister.
Last month, Mr O'Keeffe said he would be looking for cuts of at least 3 per cent cut in payroll costs from third-level institutions and the vocational education system.
Announcing the spending cutbacks, both Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said that frontline staff in the primary and secondary education system would not be affected by the 3 per cent payroll reduction target.
Mr O'Keeffe later clarified that the third-level sector and the VECs would have to meet the target, and said he was writing to them to spell out the need for payroll cuts.
A senior university source told The Irish Times: "There is real anger across the system. The funding situation is becoming unsustainable. We have already absorbed years of effective cutback in our core grant.
"The notion that we can just absorb the latest cutbacks is ludicrous. We will have to cut back''
University chiefs accept that courses cannot be withdrawn this year as the CAO application process is already in train. The first round of CAO offers will be published next month.
But cuts in the range of courses on offer and the number of student places on each courses are now being considered, as the funding crisis deepens. A majority of the seven universities are now running a substantial budget deficit.
In their letter to the Minister, the universities will outline the impact of the current cutbacks, including:
• A reduction in the quality and quantity of courses on offer across the third-level sector;
• A threat to targets for the sector set in the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation, which promised a dramatic increase in fourth-level or postgraduate education;
• A threat to the new targets - set by the Higher Education Authority earlier this month - for wider third-level access and participation.
University presidents will tell the Minister that they are being asked to absorb more cutbacks despite the radical reforms in academic structures that have brought more flexibility and wider accountability.
The funding crisis facing the universities is certain to revive discussion about the possible return of third-level fees.
The future funding of the sector is set to be considered by the Government's new national strategy for higher education which will be established in the autumn.
