Celebrating University College Dublin

Indeed, a variant of this – romantic pessimism – was to be found in Europe (though Irelandsuffered the added disadvantage of isolation from intellectual currents associated with the Enlightenment).

Our young adults today, however, have a positive attitude and are self-confident. Much of this must be ascribed to the quality of their university education (and to its quantity : in 1965, 11% of a cohort went on to third level – but in 2003, the figure was 57%).

Abroad, being Irish today is a badge of honour. We seem to be the inheritors of a regard stemming, among other sources, from selfless service by our missionaries and, more recently, our NGOs. We would do well, then, besides developing our talents, to sustain the best of our values. Besides fostering talents which contribute to the natural sciences and to economic growth, the universities should foster disciplines that focus on values – like Humanities and Philosophy. 

UCD graduate and teacher – and Irish nationalist – Tom Kettle referred in 1910 to “an Ireland unique in Europe wrought out of the ideal of the ‘civilisation state’ as contrasted with the brute-force state”. And his vision stands in the line of the ideals of Cardinal Newman who inaugurated university education in Dublinin 1854, and who wrote of a “prosperous and hopeful land” which would one day be a “road of passage and union between two hemispheres”. Newman’s ethos was not only liberal – but internationalist : in the Dublinquarters where he himself lived, only two of the eight students were Irish. Today, we need more foreign students at UCD – if only to open our minds (the present proportion is 11%, some of them temporary).

Although our educational infrastructure has been a key to Ireland’s present prosperity, we should be aware that economic “edge” can be as quickly lost as gained. Our university-system still needs huge investment in research : proportionate to population, the U.S.research capability exceeds ours by a factor of multiple-tens. And we need a mechanism for allocating existing research funding between different institutions on a more logical division-of-tasks basis. Given our needs, one wonders at the extent of state payment of third-level fees. The needy student should not be deprived – there can be some differentiation based on ability to pay. But perhaps we could follow the lead of countries like Australiaand Chinawho cover fees by extending student loans.

We should not focus so exclusively on broad numbers in the student body, that we fail to foster the exceptional student who would flourish at doctoral level. And the teaching body (when once adequately remunerated) should not regard academic tenure as being sacrosanct even where there surfaces some demonstrable case of inadequate performance.

Peter Sutherland, S.C. is a former Attorney-General of Ireland, EU Commissioner and Director General of the World Trade Organisation.