Contradiction between public policy and persistent underfunding laid bare [IrishTimes]
- Published: 06 January 2011
BACKGROUND: The Hunt report says education is the key to our future. But it raises serious questions about the sustainability of current funding arrangements
THE LONG-AWAITED Hunt report will finally be published next Tuesday. The report has had a painful birth. There have been reports of serious division among members of the group. At one stage last summer the entire draft report was extensively rewritten amid complaints from some that it was not up to scratch.
The final report presented to Cabinet recently is certainly sharper and more focused. But there is no arresting new Big Idea – and little that will surprise.
Many of its key recommendations – including the demand for a quantum leap in funding – echo the 2004 OECD report on higher education. That report has been drawing dust on the shelf since its publication. Will the Hunt report suffer a similar fate?
That said, the report is strong in highlighting the essential contradiction in public policy towards the higher education sector. The sector may be recognised by government as key to all our futures but it remains persistently underfunded – and it fails to get the kind of political attention it merits.
That is why Hunt would like to see the Minister for Education chairing a Cabinet committee on the sector and a beefed up role for the Higher Education Authority.
On funding, the report says we cannot expect the State alone to pick up the tab for future growth in the sector given “current budgetary constraints”.
Full Story: www.irishtimes.com
Assets to be means-tested in reform of college grant system [Independent.ie]
- Published: 05 January 2011
THE next government faces a political timebomb over a controversial report which paves the way for an 'asset test' to help decide who should get higher education grants.
The move would hit farmers, the self-employed and professionals whose children currently get grants in large numbers.
The report was ordered by former Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe and was prepared by an expert team headed by stockbroker and economist Dr Colin Hunt.
It was presented to the Cabinet recently and will be formally launched by current Education Minister Mary Coughlan next week.
The long-awaited national strategy admits that the present system of allocating grants solely on the basis of declared income "does not command public confidence".
"The absence of any consideration of assets and wealth in the existing means test model has limited the scope of the State to target scarce resources towards those most in need of support," says the report, seen by the Irish Independent.
Large numbers of lower middle-income households cannot afford to send their children to college because of the current system, it suggests.
As the Irish Independent disclosed last week, almost 13pc of all new grants awarded in 2008/09 went to the children of professionals, employers and managers. And one in 11 grants went to sons or daughters of farmers who are often asset rich but cash poor.
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Education body has cost £10m without beginning work [belfasttelegraph.co.uk]
- Published: 05 January 2011
The cost of the Education and Skills Authority (ESA) in Northern Ireland has reached £10m without beginning work.
Its establishment has been delayed by political divisions at Stormont.
Education Minister Caitriona Ruane said £10.2 million had been spent since 2005/6 on the centralised administration on preparations.
Ulster Unionist Sam Gardiner obtained the details in an Assembly question.
"If she (Ms Ruane) has so far failed to get Executive agreement to her proposals while at the same time pouring public money into this project, you have got to wonder: at what point she will stop spending?" Mr Gardiner asked.
"This looks like another spectacular Sinn Fein failure and another failure for their Education Minister, hard on the heels of the fiasco she produced over school 11 plus transfer."
The minister has described the costs as an investment to save. She believes it will release £20 million a year in unnecessary bureaucracy, raise standards and more effectively plan the education estate.
Full Story: www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
NI Water chief 'poised to quit' [Independent.ie]
- Published: 04 January 2011
Chief executive of Northern Ireland Water (NIW) Laurence MacKenzie is poised to step down over his organisation's mishandling of the region's water crisis.
A spokesman for the company said Mr MacKenzie, who has held the £250,000 post since 2009, had "not tendered his resignation".
But it is understood he is set to step aside and the move could come as early as Wednesday when the crisis-hit Northern Ireland Water (NIW) board is expected to meet.
Tens of thousands of homes and business were left without water when arctic weather around Christmas was followed by a swift thaw that ruptured pipes.
But NIW failed to cope with the public outcry for information and is accused of bungling efforts to help stricken families.
As speculation grew over Mr MacKenzie's future following a meeting of the company's board earlier, a NIW spokesman said: "Laurence MacKenzie's position was not discussed at today's meeting of the Northern Ireland water board and he has not tendered his resignation."
Full Story: www.independent.ie
Recruitment – Chief Executive, National Council for Special Education
- Published: 04 January 2011
A Chief Executive for the National Council for Special Education is being recruited by the Public Appointment Service. An information booklet is available to download which outlines the job specification, the person specification and the recruitment process.
