Madam, - I thought, naïvely, that this Government could do no more to debase the services of the country. However, Mary Hanafin's decision that third-level institutions should now scrap with each other for much-needed resources demonstrates further the right-wing drift of this administration. The buzz-word "competition" should be translated as a crude mechanism for colleges and universities to "prove" that they deserve the crumbs from the master's table.
This ridiculous scheme will lead to a virtual dogfight for funds, and has ugly potential for lobbying and favour-seeking. Perhaps the proposal is really a way of forcing academics to buy into the newly created Fianna Fáil golden circle?
Judging by her recent remarks we can also expect technical and business colleges to be at the top of the queue for resources while the humanities will languish at the back. In other words, corporate Ireland will be looked after, while those pursuing the arts will be squeezed even further.
Along with health and housing, education is seen by this Government not as a service or a right, but as a commodity to be auctioned and capitalised upon. Ireland 2005 - everything's for sale. - Yours, etc,
GORDON KENNEDY, Dodderview Cottages, Dublin 4.
Madam, - Your Editorial of April 26th demonstrates a curious - but unfortunately persistent - myopia in D'Olier Street.
I read Minister for Education Mary Hanafin's speech of April 25th with great interest and noted her statement that "the institutes of technology have been a true success story of the Irish education system". Her announcement of a strategic innovation fund targeted at all of higher education is particularly welcomed by the institutes of technology which now enrol more than 50 per cent of all students in that sector.
The Minister is looking at the bigger picture; and she recognises that a diversified system, focused on developing the full spectrum of human ability and potential, is required if we are to continue to promote the social, cultural, intellectual and economic well-being of all the people of Ireland. There is much to do if national aspiration is to be translated into effective policy and if that policy is then to be effectively implemented.
This, as the Minister has signalled, can only occur in a unified, diverse system in which structures and funding are aligned with policy. The enormous capacity and potential of the institutes of technology must continue to be developed as a major element of this configuration.
For over 30 years, the institutes of technology have been changing the landscape of Irish higher education. I would welcome a recognition of this now well-established configuration in your comment and reporting. - Yours, etc,
MARION COY, Director, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, Dublin Road, Galway.