Funferal

Irish universities to be privatised?

There’s something very disturbing about the proposal from the HEA (Higher Education Authority) that some Irish universities be ‘privatised’ as the Irish Times describes it. The HEA calls for the universities to be changed to non-profit indepedent entities. It seems they think this would move universities out of the sphere of influence of politicians, but I’m not convinced. In particular, to think that by making the universities nominally private – governing authorities are already elected by a range of groups such as faculty, alumni and students – they will challenge Harvard and the like is just weird. To compare the role of the private university in the US with a proposal to privatise universities in Ireland makes little sense – it decouples the comparison from historical and social contexts. And finally, the call to consider reintroducing fees is wrong.