Since the introduction of the Trinity Education Project, we have been bombarded with phrases such as “graduate attributes” and fed an image of what the “ideal” Trinity student should be. According to the College, this student is a competent, critical thinker who will be an asset to any company or organisation they choose to join. Apparently, this person must also be willing to undervalue their employment to such a degree that they will work a full-time job for free.
At least, it’s hard to read the College’s involvement in a programme that treats pharmacy students as free labour any other way. In 2015, the country’s three pharmacy schools came together to refine how pharmacy is taught in Ireland. This saw the introduction of a €9,000 integrated masters and the removal of the pay element of a student’s placement year. Its aim was to remove bias from the system and to recast the employee–employer relationship as that of one between a student and supervisor.
While these are noble aims, what this means is that students will now work full-time jobs with the threat of sanctions if they receive compensation for that work.
Unfortunately, the decision of pharmacy students to publicly denounce the financial pressures being placed on them has only shown how widespread the mistreatment of health science students is.
Budding nurses, radiation therapists, occupational therapists and many more all pointed out that the struggles faced by pharmacy students are not something particular to their discipline. Rather, they form part of a miasma of mistreatment that entry-level workers face across the sector.
In a week when our very own Taoiseach’s answer to long wait times and overcrowding in hospitals is for nurses and consultants to work more, it is obvious that this problem extends far beyond the walls of Trinity.
While Trinity College Dublin Students’ Union’s (TCDSU) decision to support pharmacy students is welcome, there are fundamental and far-reaching shifts needed in our perception of the work these students do – and of its value to society – if we are to have the types of graduates Trinity so desires.
