Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

These index measurements are being looked at internationally as education becomes a more globalised phenomenon. The further people are from an educational institution like a university, the more likely they are to look at an index or a guidebook when considering that institution, just as they do with all other products and services. There are a number of determining factors in the QS rankings. I do not have them readily to hand. They are partly based on the ratio of academic staff to students. There is no doubt that the reductions in staff numbers associated with the employment control framework have damaged our performance under that index. The rankings are determined by many other things, including the number of academic papers that members of staff have had published internationally. Such factors might not necessarily relate directly to funding or staff numbers. That is the honest answer. There is cause for concern. The positive side of it, which we should keep in the picture, is that there are approximately 15,000 universities in the world and all of our universities are in the top 500.

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