Professor Don Barry:

There is a slightly different view, which is that rankings do not measure everything that is important to universities. This issue is very much about the need in Ireland to provide the best quality third level education to our citizens as it is possible for the country and the citizens to support. It is important that we do not lose sight of that being the main business of this meeting. Looking at the system from far away, rankings are important in gaining an impression of the quality of the universities in Ireland. They have a gigantic effect on our engagement with the outside world in terms of recruiting staff and international students and on our capacity to build partnerships with universities in other countries such as China. It is tremendously important in that regard. None of our universities are entirely led by doing what makes the rankings scores higher at the expense of the tens of thousands of undergraduate students on our campuses and we should not do that.