Marie Louise O'Donnell (Independent)
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There is something very sad about having to have young students tell us where we are going wrong in our teaching. We should have a proper strategy and know what we mean by qualitative teaching across all disciplines. We take that very much for granted at third level. We do not take it so much for granted at first level and second level. That is what I meant by my remark earlier.

One of the things that leads to a deterioration in the student experience is the fact that a lot of the brochures from the universities’ admission departments are massive Las Vegas lies. They promise the students a world of experience. They promise them a thousand things but the promises do not manifest. That is true of departments as well as within faculties. The students come in with an expectation. I do not refer to student societies, I refer to their learning experience. The expectation falls consistently in numbers, groups, involvement and project work.

The involvement in project work falls consistently. Universities need to be very careful about the selling element, which is really not the suite they are getting at all. We would serve ourselves very well in this country if we sat down and asked exactly what do we mean by teaching at third level, what do we understand by quality across all disciplines, in order to see if we can devise a massive strategy and decide how we can lock into it.