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Radical change in store for Irish third tier in next five years due to Covid-19 pandemic
05/14/2020 – 06:35
By Jess Casey
Additional reports by Ciannan Brennan
The way Irish universities and colleges operate, teach, make money and research will face fundamental change in the next five years due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
With remote teaching poised to become a mainstay until the widespread launch of a Covid-19 vaccine, the business model for higher education will also face significant challenges. An increasing number of students may choose to defer courses, ‘big technology’ is likely to play a much larger role in the sector, and we may see fewer institutions.
That’s according to Graham Love, the former executive director of the Higher Education Authority – HEA – who believes that the next two years will act as a “live laboratory experiment” for higher education and research here. “I think that in five years, we will see a lot of students doing substantial parts of their online course,” Love said.
“I think there will be quite a few changes going on. The reality is that no one wants to hear it in particular, but even 12 to 18 months for a vaccine is a bit optimistic, possibly naive. ”
Protection in the community against the virus could be as far away as 2023, he added.
Love says that in the next two years, online exams and teaching will become a mainstay.
“A significant provision of online courses, meaningful online and remote testing and assessment, is going to fundamentally challenge the business models of higher education institutions.”
He said higher education is expensive, whether people pay for it directly or the state pays for it: “It is clearly worth it, in my opinion, but it is costly.” He asked if students are willing to pay, either through the tax system or fees, for a course that most of their in-room computers will likely cover.
“Particularly if you are a large taxpayer, for example an international student. I think it is a serious question. ”
Preliminary evidence from American universities shows that next year’s deferral rate has already increased to between 12% and 14%, when it is generally closer to between 3% and 4%. “I suspect we might see something similar here,” said Love.
The Association of Irish Universities (IUA) previously told the government that it faces a small drop of about € 375 million in 2020 and 2021. It starts from the gap in state funding, so that will lead to a bigger fight, “said Love. . ” If I was running a university for years to come, I’d certainly be planning. I would plan a reduced income level for the next few years for sure, “he said, adding that it would be” wonderful “to see the government intervene with a rescue package.
During Love’s tenure as HEA executive director, he conducted several high-profile research on governance in the third-tier sector. He abruptly resigned in 2018, then cited his frustrations with the Department of Education’s tight control over HEA and his work. He is now a consulting partner at Mazars Ireland.
Yesterday, Joe McHugh, Minister of Education, told the Dáil that the decision to cancel the Leaving Cert exams has allowed the third-tier sector to plan new participants. He faced tough questions when he made his first appearance since publicly announcing his decision to cancel this summer’s written exams.
Also yesterday, after a HIQA report found that children are not contributing substantially to the spread of the coronavirus, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said.
that “among the safest things we can do in the coming months” is to reopen schools and kindergartens.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s announced daily death toll for Covid-19 has dropped to its lowest levels since the end of March, after it was announced that 10 more people had lost their lives.
The figure is the lowest since eight people were reported killed on March 30.
The latest figure means that 1,497 Irish people have died from the virus.
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