Madam, - The response of UCD's president, Dr Hugh Brady, to claims that his institution is poaching staff from other Irish universities illustrates well how economic arguments have come to replace educational ones at the higher reaches of our educational system.
That one of the State's leading educators (which is what one presumes the head of its largest university to be) defends his reluctance to sign a draft protocol on poaching with his fellow university heads by claims about anti-competitive practices and cosy cartels is indeed disturbing. Not only does he fail to offer any good educational grounds for his stance but the economic justifications he offers make no sense.
Firstly, his use of the term "anti-competitive" is taken directly from the practices of a particularly aggressive Anglo-American style of capitalism, the value of which is much debated among political economists. Applying it to the field of education is most puzzling.
A core value of academic endeavour is our collegiality, not only within our institutions but also across them.
Most academics in my experience do not view their expertise as a commodity to be possessed for private profit but as knowledge to be shared with colleagues and students.
Competitiveness, except in the very limited sphere of seeking to excel in what we do, has no place in any truly educational endeavour.
Secondly, Dr Brady misuses the term "cartel" when he applies it to education.
According to the Oxford Dictionary, a cartel is "a combination between political parties to promote a common interest" or "a manufacturers' agreement or association formed to control marketing arrangements, regulate prices, etc." Clearly, educators carrying out their professional activities cannot constitute cartels.
What we in the university sector expect from our heads is a vision of education and how to enhance its quality for its own sake; its social, political, economic or cultural impacts are a separate issue which require the expertise of sociologists, political scientists, economists and cultural theorists to assess.
Unfortunately, some of our university presidents focus far more of their attention on education's impact rather than on its essence. Often, as the case under discussion illustrates only too well, they end up doing nothing more than uncritically articulating some of the more questionable priorities of contemporary political discourse.
It is indeed paradoxical, at a time when our political leaders are at long last beginning to show an understanding of the need for collaboration if we are to improve what is still largely a mediocre third-level system, that it is a senior educator who promotes the values of possessive individualism. - Yours, etc,
Dr PEADAR KIRBY, School of Law and Government, Dublin City University, Dublin 9.
Madam, - In Monday's Irish Times article entitled "Hanafin critical of staff poaching by UCD", it was correctly stated that "in recent months, Trinity has unveiled a series of joint projects with UCC, Maynooth and Galway".
However, the article also stated that "sources say it has no plans for collaboration with UCD". This is factually incorrect. TCD and UCD are, and will continue to be, partners in a number of major national initiatives, including the delivery of the National Institute of Bioprocessing Research and Training, the National Digital Research Centre and the Dublin Molecular Medicine Centre, as well as many other significant academic and research programmes. - Yours, etc,
Prof IAN ROBERTSON, Dean of Research, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin.