Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

It is unfortunate that a leaked copy of an old draft was spread around the media. Those who were on the group were forthright and the lady who represented the institutes of technology was almost vilified when she would not tell them anything that was going on, as the students did not. That said, it is clearly my intention to publish the report early in the new year. No one in the institutions is preventing me from doing so.

The implementation of the strategy for the next 20 years is very important and will be hugely beneficial to third level education in this country. It will be the first time we will have a real opportunity since the Universities Act to consider this from a legislative, governance and teaching point of view and seek changes. I agree that the teaching contact hours need to be increased for our young people and also that students would have an input and, as we discussed earlier, would be asked for their views. We hear about them when they are at home-----

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