Is Ireland No Longer a Land of Scholars?

Rather grudgingly, I wish to bring up that well worn adage that is “Ireland, the land of saints and scholars,” a phrase that would lead the uninformed to accept that this little nation effortlessly churns out game changing scholars on a daily basis.

The world today is a wholly different place to when that mindset began during the Dark Ages where in the midst of a chaotic political scene across central Europe, Ireland had become a safe haven for scholars spanning conventional Christian spheres. Today, the image of Ireland as an Eden for intellectual thought remains erroneously engrained in our psyche.

Still, deducing that Ireland is a nation that produces world class graduates in bountiful numbers holds some weight. After Cyprus, Ireland boasts the EU’s best educated young population, with 42% possessing a third level degree; a figure that starkly contrasts with an EU average of 29%. In a global context, the United Nations Education Index ranks Ireland a noteworthy 9th out of 181 nations in a near perfect score- above the USA, UK and Germany. Viewing the facts with a selective eye, it seems there is little cause for concern.

When the Celtic Tiger vanished in its curtain closer circus trick, it was the frontline service cutbacks which received the focus of redtop media, and while health service and social welfare payment cutbacks were of de facto importance then, few of us have shifted focus to the cataclysmic effect that third level education cutbacks are placing upon Ireland’s posterity.

To place these effects in context, it is first necessary to examine the cutbacks that current and previous Government Cabinets have placed upon our seemingly unparalleled higher education system. Since 2008, exchequer funding has been reduced by 36%. This has resulted in an in-house staff curtailment of 12%, increasing the tutor to student ratio to 1:27. Combine this with an increase in student numbers of roughly 10,000 year on year since 2008 and the inevitable result is a fatal third level poison that threatens the very quality of Ireland’s anaemic graduate populous. Today, student fee receipts, endowments and foreign investments and have outweighed exchequer support.

This radical alteration as to how Irish colleges are funded is already marginalising Ireland’s reputation on the international scene. In this year’s prestigious Times Higher Education World Reputation Rankings, not one Irish college achieved a place inside the top one hundred, while Trinity College Dublin, the highest ranked of all Irish applicants, was said to be “well outside the first one hundred places”.

To affluent foreign families who are willing to sponsor prestigious British or American colleges in order to provide the ultimate education for their siblings, rankings like this matter- drawing now vital revenue from our failing higher education system. However, this is not simply a future concern, in February this year, the independent Grant Thornton Study noted that a 12% decline in third level foreign students in Ireland since 2008 was of critical concern to Ireland’s Government.

Banking on the attractive option and ignoring the beast lurking around the corner is something us Irish have always had a habit of doing and it appears that our gross dependence on generous patrons and foreign students for third level funding is a catastrophic misjudgement. More importantly, a reliance on such an unstable financial source limits third level confidence to invest in a relevant third level education system that seeks to construct our long mooted knowledge economy.

Earlier this year in a piece published by the Irish Times, Students Union of Ireland President, John O’Connor, stated “Ireland must strive to be renowned as an education and skills haven, not a tax haven.” While John intended to raise a need for proper state investment in third level education in order to develop positive “human capital investment,” Mr. O’Connor inadvertently raised a fatal flaw in Ireland’s higher education system: While it provides a solid education in a theoretical sense, it ignores the practical skills needed for a graduate to become relevant in a technology dominated labour sector.

The briefest glimpse at Ireland’s University module offerings reveal a plethora of courses rooted in nineteenth century disciplines, incapable of adapting themselves to the modern world. While Folklore and Greek Culture may by prime examples of our third level institutions obsession of catering for neither the individual nor the economy, far more worrying is the abundance of modules such as Architecture that allure with their alarmingly low CAO points requirements, blindly leading the unassuming student down a path of saturated unemployment rates.

The issue with the current CAO system is that it allures students into courses that appear prestigious, placing perceived desirability over genuine interest. A Masters in Architecture or Greek Culture may seem impressive, but is a degree as such needed in a nation so bereft in research scientists and IT specialists?

Some years ago the ultimate solution to our economic woe was the creation of a highly educated youth that would become the English speaking face of the EU economic powerhouse. Today, we live in a nation where the second highest educated people in Europe suffer from an unemployment rate triple that of Germany. Our problem is evident for the world to see.

So far, the promise that came with Ireland’s new hyper educated generation has failed to materialise, leading to the inevitable blame game that will seek to provide all the problems, but no answers.

Despite the pessimistic forecast, the problems that third level education face today are a relatively easy fix. Of paramount importance is the realignment of the Leaving Certificate programme for the twenty-first century. Mandatory subjects such as Irish must be optional, while marginal subjects such as Religion and Latin should be thought outside school hours for those who wish to follow a career in academia. In its place would be a choice of science, electronic and software related examination topics that are relevant in today’s world, ensuring that a student’s college course choice is a natural and informed commitment.

Turning home towards the world of third level education, it is vital that each course is angled towards a specific profession in which vacancies and entry level points would be adjusted depending on the availability of employment in that specific discipline. Of those who want to spend a life in academia research, limited places in specific disciplines would be available to those who excelled in the Leaving Certificate examinations.

So all is not lost; even these rudimentary measures ensure that Ireland would have a structured number of graduates with qualifications relevant to what is required by employers today. This in turn should reduce the chronic youth unemployment rate that plagues the financial health of our higher education system, freeing up financial resources. This surplus revenue would then be fed into the college system, weaning colleges off their dependence in foreign investments.

A land of scholars is no longer enough; we must become employable to be relevant in a global economy.