Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

At a time of scarce and reducing resources, I also have reservations about the manner in which universities are being assessed. I note the assessment is based on a number of factors, namely, research, teaching, employability and internationalisation. Only last week, I met two lecturers from different departments at University College Dublin who were at pains to point out that the university assessment in heavily biased towards research. They argue that the scarcity of resources means teaching and students must be given top priority if we are to achieve the best outcomes for university students. Achieving the best possible results will require us to focus on teaching and students. In the past four years, the purchase of new books for the UCD library has been virtually frozen in the case of some departments. While I accept that money is not plentiful, this is a serious problem. It is all very well to spend a fortune on research to impress those who carry out such assessments but our priority must be to look after our universities and students.

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