Trinity is considering the introduction of new “faith representatives” for non-Christian students attending Trinity, with hopes of filling the roles by the second semester of next year.
Speaking to The University Times, Trinity chaplain Rev Steven Brunn, who created the new initiative, said that representatives – who will not be paid – will act as a “point person” for people of non-Christian faiths.
He said that the four chaplains who currently work in Trinity are happy to speak to people of other faiths, but said people may feel more comfortable speaking to people who “actually understand [their] religion”.
The title of the new positions is yet to be fully finalised, but Brunn said he expects them to be called faith representatives. He said he is hopeful the positions will be filled by the second semester of next year.
The representatives will be chosen from members of staff. Applicants will have to go through a interview process and may be required to bring references from their local faith representatives.
Brunn said that, while the College wants to “cover the main religions initially”, it is also open to having faith representatives for lesser known religions.
Brunn said the idea of introducing faith representatives came after dramatic increases to Trinity’s international student population in recent years.
“Trinity has changed a great deal over the last few years, with a huge amount of people coming in from abroad”, he said. “It would be good if they had a faith representative from the staff.”
In the last number of years, Trinity has prioritised attracting international students as part of its plans to become less reliant on government funding. In October last year, The University Times reported that the number of non-EU students in Trinity had doubled between 2011/12 and 2017/18.
In 2016, the government announced a strategy committed to increasing the number of international students in Irish higher education institutes.
A report published early this year found that there was a 45 per cent increase in international students studying in Ireland between 2013 and 2017, he biggest cohort of these students coming from China, Malaysia, the US, Canada, India and Saudi Arabia.
Eleanor O’Mahony also contributed reporting to this piece.
