The question of third-level’s agency has, in education circles, been a hot-button issue for years. In what can only be described as a battle for autonomy in the higher education sector, universities have increasingly found themselves up against a government eager to assume its position as puppet-master.
The government has scrambled for increased legislative power in recent years – last summer, then Minister for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor introduced a series of reforms to give the Higher Education Authority new powers to investigate universities – startling university heads and prompting widespread debate over third-level autonomy and academic freedom.
Thus, any move by the government to willingly cede control over the running of higher education institutions is a significant one. Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris’s announcement today that higher education institutions will be granted “essential service” status under Ireland’s upcoming lockdown will no doubt be welcomed by third-level stakeholders as, at the very least, a small victory in this long-standing feud.
“Institutions and providers are best placed to determine where onsite presence is required”, Harris said in his press statement this afternoon, avoiding demands and clearing the way for university and college heads to take the lead in the running of their own sector, or at least their own institutions, in the coming weeks.
The question of third-level’s agency has, in education circles, been a hot-button issue for years
By allowing universities and colleges to remain open to students and staff, and permitting “essential” research that cannot take place online to be held in person, Harris has given universities and colleges the option to remain open and decide on the restrictions that they believe – and hopefully know – are best suited to them. In doing so, the department has made a concession that signifies a willingness to loosen the government’s reins over the sector – reins which have, in recent years, been held with a certain degree of mistrust.
Ultimately, those who are currently running universities and colleges are those who are most prepared to deal with the specific challenges that the next few weeks will inevitably throw up for their respective institutions – an attempt by the government to serve as ventriloquist in this instance would have merely been a denial of the fact that this pandemic invites the most unique and singular of difficulties to individual institutions.
In his announcement, Harris acknowledged, perhaps implicitly, that blanket statements and all-encompassing demands will do little to facilitate the higher education sector through the coming weeks – and have done little to serve them in the past. The alternative, rigid reality could only ever have left the already disfigured landscape of higher education all the more imbalanced.
Ultimately, those who are currently running universities and colleges are those who are most prepared to deal with the specific challenges that the next few weeks will inevitably throw up for their respective institutions
Additionally, the department’s move will secure it some much-needed brownie points with university and college heads after last week’s budget. Hopeful third-level stakeholders – who were ready for a budget that would reflect the government’s increased engagement with the sector, seemingly symbolised by the creation of Harris’s department – were disappointed with the €1.93 billion allocated to the sector. Though an increase on last year’s allocation, the dismissal of many pre-budget submission requests left many disillusioned and unconvinced that Harris was willing to heed the calls of third-level bigwigs, strapped for cash and agency.
Though a far-cry from the level of investment that the sector is calling out for, Harris’s willingness to acknowledge that universities and colleges are capable of making their own decisions signals a level of engagement and awareness that was found wanting last week.
Today’s announcement might easily have been caught in the teeth of a tit-for-tat autonomy dispute. Thankfully, it was spared – and will, at least for the time being, leave third-level heads snugly seated in front of their respective steering wheels as they face into some of the most logistically and financially challenging weeks in their recent histories.
