Trinity’s Belfast campus has suffered from years of underfunding and neglect from College, something that has led to criticism from staff and student representatives in recent days. Students who pay identical fees to those in Dublin ought to be entitled to equal access to support services and should not be subjected to ongoing neglect and detachment from the wider college community.
As graduate students, many of these students face the difficulties of stress, mental illness and planning for the future. But for these students, access to Trinity’s most important student support services is limited or nonexistent. Couple this with the lack of awareness of its existence among Trinity students and it’s no wonder that feelings of detachment and isolation are all too common among students – and, of course, staff – on the Belfast campus.
Many of the students who attend the 20-strong master’s course in Belfast come from the US and therefore must make the transition to life in a new country. As non-EU students, their fees far and away exceed those paid by Irish students in the Republic. In truth, this alone should justify their equal access to college supports such as the Careers Advisory Service or the College Counselling Service.
This also raises questions as Trinity seeks to build ties with foreign universities and institutions, something that will see an increase in the number of students who opt for distance and online learning. In recent years, College has launched partnerships with institutions in the likes of China, Singapore, Vietnam and India. Yet Trinity seemingly has a hard time providing for its students on this island – so what can students halfway across the world expect?
Trinity can hardly plead ignorance on this particular matter. The course, which had its first intake in 2005, has clearly been subject to persistent neglect. These issues should never have been allowed to fester for so long, let alone fall on student representatives to solve.
