Sir, – The pinnacle of ambition for certain institutes of technology is to collectively come together on a regional basis and change their names to technological universities.
Our top higher education institute, Trinity College Dublin, sits at number 104, according to the QS World University Rankings for 2019, having plummeted from number 88 in 2018. UCD sits at 193 and that’s it, with no higher education institute in the top 100.
This is disappointing but not unexpected.
Education costs money, especially at higher level. Current levels of funding will not allow us to break in to the top 100. “Free” education comes at a price, and the price is quality.
Even more worrying now are the steps that are being taken to make the problem even worse.
The higher education education sector will be further diluted by the renaming of the institutes of technology as technological universities. The rebranding exercise will cost millions.
For a small country we will have an overabundance of universities. Whether we like it or not these technological universities will always play second fiddle to the long-established Dublin and Cork universities.
This letter is coming from a proud Waterford man. From a city that has been crying out for a university for years. In my opinion it would be far better to be a top-rate institute of technology rather than a third-rate university.
After all, the top higher education institute for every year since 2012 has been an institute of technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
What’s in a name? – Yours, etc,
KEVIN O’SHEA,
Powerscourt,
Waterford.