The Higher Education Authority (HEA), since the appointment of chairman, John Hennessy, is largely seen as a kind of attack dog that has been set loose on Irish higher education, in order to force "efficiencies" and an industry focus upon institutes of technology (IoTs) and universities, and generally, in the words of the great and fictitious prime minister, Francis Urquhart, to put a bit of stick about. (A quick look the headlines here will give you the idea.) In this respect, his Magnum Opus, Towards a Future Higher Education Landscape, won't have come as a shock. This document is the implementation plan of the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030, or the Hunt report. The first thing we can say about it is that there have already been complaints from both the IoT and university sectors, so perhaps it is at least fair. The higher education elite have been calling for rationalisation of the IoT sector for years, whilst treasuring the unimpeachable sovereignty of the universities. But it may well be that all institutes will feel the winds of change.

The panic issuing from the 7 heads of the 7 universities, through the obliging offices of Irish Times journalist, Sean Flynn, is palpable. Just as the remove of a thunderstorm can be gauged by counting the seconds between lightening and thunder, so too does the frequency of their 'appeals to reason' reflect the likelihood of university provision in the south east region. 6 days was the previous count. 1 day the last. These 'appeals to reason' are interesting in that the arguments contained within them tend to be minimally rational, little based on empirical evidence and generally of an emotive or rabble-rousing character. A previous post, The technological university and its vested interests, critically analyses some of these arguments, made in a previous (November) article in the, by now familiar, series. The next-to-latest incarnation is Irish Times: Third-level presidents oppose new university. In this post, I will mainly examine this article.

In today's Irish Times (Senior figures in education echo Hunt's view that there is no case for more universities - technological or otherwise), unnamed 'senior figures' in higher education get the usual free and open airing, through the mouth piece of Seán Flynn, of their concerns about the possible creation of new universities, even universities of the new technological variety. When I came across this suggestive little piece of fear mongering, hinting at all kinds of insidious campaigns conducted by parochial power brokers, I wondered why, suddenly, these guys were breaking cover (if you could call it that) at this particular time. Every time you get an article like this in the Irish Times, it's because Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT), or some other IoT, is threatening a potential upgrade. Sure enough, I had missed the release of the full report on the Criteria for Technological University Designation the day before. You have to wonder exactly who the powerful vested interests are when the local interest groups have been starved of national publicity over 20 years of campaigning whereas this certain cabal of senior figures in higher education can write their own articles for the Irish Times at the drop of a hat.

For the third day running, the forthcoming closure of TalkTalk in Waterford remains in the news. 600 jobs will be lost in 30 days, adding to the startling tally of job losses endured by the city in just the last few years. The closure of significant glass making operations in Waterford Wedgewood, a major indigenous manufacturer and exporter, the closure of ABB Transformers, losses in Teva Pharmaceuticals, and so on, to which the current TalkTalk closure will be added, brings to 2 or 3 thousand the number of headline jobs lost. Many more will have been lost quietly as a direct consequence. Unemployment figures are 3-4% above the national average in the south east, and one suspects, higher again in Waterford city itself. The TalkTalk announcement, sudden and shocking as it was, giving only 30 days for employees and state agencies to react, seems to have highlighted the plight of Waterford and the south east in a way that has hitherto appeared unlikely. In the backdrop of this endless recession, the relative implosion of the state's 5th city has been a story that has struggled for a headline, but is now apparently receiving some attention.

In the last week, the long awaited (in certain quarters) Criteria for Designation to Technological University Status has been released by the Higher Education Authority (HEA). These criteria arise from a Dr Simon Marginson's response to the HEA in the context of the Hunt report, arising from the reluctantly released, much ignored and quickly superceded Port report; itself driven by a Dr. Robin H.