Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin (UCD) should combine to create a world class institution according to Former Attorney General and international businessman, Peter Sutherland.
He made the comments when speaking at the Undergraduate Awards of Ireland and Northern Ireland at the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin on January 22.
Sutherland said that if Ireland wants to have world class institutions, retaining seven universities is unsustainable: ‘Surely seven is too many if we’re talking about comprehensive world class research universities with undergraduate education, postgraduate training and research. Personally I can’t see how Ireland can afford this.’
A way to achieve this reduction seemed to come in his suggestion that Trinity and UCD should combine to create a world class institution.He said ‘at the moment both are in the top 100 with one in the top fifty. We would have a top twenty or even a top ten player to compete in the big leagues and, if so, wouldn’t that be the best thing for Ireland?’
He was careful to make clear that this could be done without compromising the ‘rich and very different histories and traditions of these important national institutions’ he said ‘surely, with a bit of imagination or even innovation this could be achieved.’
This is not the first time such a proposal has been put forward. In the late 1960s the then Minister for Education, Donogh O’ Malley, suggested that UCD become a constituent college of the University of Dublin. The idea was dropped after opposition from Trinity students.
These comments come at a particularly difficult time for Irelands universities, which together are in debt of €32 million. UCD and UCC have recently agreed a debt cutting programme with the Higher Education Authority. The new deal will offer the universities a chance to end the recruitment moratorium currently imposed on them if they can reduce their costs by three per cent a year.
Sutherland, a UCD graduate, has also voiced his support to the decision of Minister Batt O’Keeffe to dissolve the National University of Ireland (NUI). This decision was made without telling the Dail, or indeed the University’s chancellor, Maurice Manning.
The NUI is a federal institution with nine constituent and recognised colleges. The four constituent universities are NUIG, NUI Maynooth, UCD and UCC. It also makes awards to a numb
er of colleges, including the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, National College of Art and Design, the Institute of Public Administration, Shannon College of Hotel Management and the Milltown Institute.
The NUI said the Minister’s announcement, ‘coming abruptly as it did, has caused understandable anxiety among students and graduates.’ Many students who chose NUI colleges have
been contacting the colleges, concerned about the quality of their degrees. NUI is a 102 year old brand with strong international recognition and more than 250,000 graduates in Ireland and across the world.
