Trinity has agreed to fund a new counsellor and doctor, a boost to a college whose students have long complained about the demands on support services and a move that will go some way towards addressing a problem Trinity has in the past said it didn’t have the money to solve.
Agreed in principle at a meeting of the College’s Planning Group, which advises on Trinity’s financial planning and is made up of the College’s most senior staff, the commitment means that over the next year Trinity will work with Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union (TCDSU) on how to fund the two new positions. The news was announced by TCDSU and in a statement on its Facebook page the union said the new hires would “give up to 3500 more health appointments and up to 1000 more counselling appointments”.
Trinity’s student services have been the most visible victim of the funding crisis in higher education in recent years. The pressures facing the Student Counselling Service in particular haven’t been a secret and a series of internal and external reports warned of the dangers of further cuts and a lack of funding. However, College has often pointed to the lack of money available to solve an issue that has often triggered anger among students. Speaking at a meeting of TCDSU council in January, Provost Patrick Prendergast said: “The state does not pay us to deliver the kind of services you want.”
College currently employs seven counsellors and three interns, as well as three full-time doctors and two nurses. Over the next year, College will work to find funding for the new doctor and counsellor, with TCDSU President, Kieran McNulty, telling The University Times that he expected the new staff to take up their positions in the 2018 academic year.
It remains undecided how the two new positions will be funded and over the next year the College’s Chief Operating Officer, Geraldine Ruane, will work with student services to find the money to fund the long-called for expansion of the Student Counselling Service and the Health Service. McNulty mentioned that college was considering a range of options, including “sponsorship”.
However, he said the union wouldn’t support “a rise in fees or a levy to support this”. A significant aspect of the pressure on student services has been the increase in student numbers of the last decade coupled by a decline in funding. Last year, The University Times reported that the emergency counselling appointments being attended had risen by over 150 per cent since 2010.
Ultimately, McNulty said the agreement was significant, adding student services to the college’s list of priorities.
