Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on the most recent world university rankings which showed that universities here have slipped again; the steps he is taking to address this issue; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43069/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The position of Irish universities in The Times higher education rankings has remained relatively stable this year, showing that Ireland still has two universities in the top 200; two universities in the top 350 and another in the top 400. Two of these universities, Trinity College Dublin and the National University of Ireland, Galway, NUIG, have improved their relative ranking positions in the past year. While UCD's relative ranking has fallen, its overall point score is higher than last year.

While some higher education systems have invested heavily in elite institutions and adopted a policy of differentiated support for different tiers of institutions, our focus in this country is on advancing performance across an accessible and diverse system of institutions. This policy is paying dividends for Ireland's growing competitiveness and we are now ranked first in the world in the IMD world competitiveness survey for the availability of skilled labour, owing to our impressive ranking of first in the European Union and fourth in the OECD for the higher education attainment rates of our 25 to 34 year olds.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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We learned last week that our universities had again slipped down the latest rankings in The Times higher education survey, with Ireland no longer represented among the top 100 institutions worldwide. The drop in position for University College Dublin, from 159 to 187, is particularly dramatic and worrying. Trinity College Dublin is slightly up, from 117 to 110, but has failed yet again to make it into the top 100. Six years ago it was ranked among the top 50 colleges worldwide, while UCD was comfortably inside the top 100. What does the Minister propose to do to address this ongoing decline in ranking? Increasing the student contribution fee every year for 250 years simply will not address the problem. Responding to the latest data for the falling status of Irish universities, Dr. Hugh Brady observed: "Economic factors here are part of the reason, but we must also recognise that investment by universities in other countries is raising the level of competition internationally." The Minister has decided not to publish a recent report on the future of the third level education sector which was compiled by international experts and presented to him by the Higher Education Authority. Will he explain why the report has not been published and why it was commissioned in the first place if it was not to be taken on board?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The seven Irish universities are ranked in the top 2% among the 15,000 universities in the world. That is an extraordinary statistic by any measure. However, the rankings are somewhat self-seeking in that it is possible to construct any matrix of measurement in order to obtain a certain skewed result. For example, one of the strongest countries in Europe for research, including applied research, is Germany, yet the number of German universities which feature in the rankings is relatively small. The purpose of the Shanghai index was to benchmark Chinese research universities against what was being achieved in the United States. Other ranking systems give slightly different results and within these rankings there are good stories and not so good ones. One can almost pick and choose the system which best suits one's needs. Nevertheless, I accept the point the Deputy is making. All other issues being equal, our universities have fallen in the rankings. While UCD has actually moved up a few places, it has been overtaken by other universities for a variety of reasons. Some of it is to do with resources, including pupil-staff ratios and the availability of funding for research. I have spent some time studying the data and there is clearly a lack of consistency in some of the indicators. In some cases, for example, administrative staff and a host of other non-contact staff are included in the pupil-staff ratio, thereby ensuring a more favourable rating for the institution in question.

The current position is that I am awaiting the landscape document from the Higher Education Authority which was commissioned on foot of the report on third level education published in January 2011. There was a request which I did not seek and which was not brought to the notice of the Department for the international experts to give a view as to what the configuration of the entire third level sector should be. This was separate to the recommendations made in Dr. Hunt's report and the initial action taken by the HEA in inviting all of the third level institutions to indicate their view in collaborating and associating with other institutions in their area. I did not want the second part of that report to be published because it would be a distraction from the main exercise on which we had embarked.

I await the report and it will be published in due course, albeit not immediately. I want the institutions in question and the Higher Education Authority to stick to the original mission they set themselves by publishing, probably in February or March 2013, their response to the future landscape configuration of third level education.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister appeared to indicate he was not aware the report was being commissioned and neither he nor his Department had requested it. Is that correct? He referred to the roadmap produced in the Hunt report, which also deals with the information technology sector and opportunities for universities to apply for technological university status. What is the current position in this regard? The Connacht-Ulster Alliance recently made a presentation to Members setting out a proposal to create a technological university in the north west. A similar case has been made for Waterford and Dublin. It is important that the regions are given an opportunity to make a case for securing technological university status. What timeline is envisaged for this process?

Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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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.

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I will reply first to Deputy Wallace before addressing the questions asked by Deputy McConalogue. The Deputy confirms my comment on the distortion that certain types of indices can give to the overall outcome of a ranking. Investment in research, the level of peer review of papers and reputation are all used as indices. However, the assessment may be carried out by people who have never been to Ireland. They may, therefore, base their reputational assessment on an image they have of the country and its universities. There is evidence to suggest that when the onset of the economic crisis in 2009-10 had a significant adverse effect on the reputation and perception of Irish universities, notwithstanding that there had been little or no significant shift in resource allocation or the student-teacher ratio. In the first instance, the ratings should indicate what is the quality of education for our pupils and students, while also conveying a message to the rest of the world about the quality of our education system. They are, however, designed to serve slightly different functions and address slightly different audiences.

As regards the configuration of the third level sector, we have seven universities, including the Dublin Institute of Technology, 14 institutes of technology and an array of other third level institutions, including some private institutions which avail of the CAO form for allocation and admission purposes. The more modern landscape of these 33 institutions is almost 40 years old when one considers the establishment of the regional technical colleges in the 1970s and early 1980s and, more recently, the establishment of the University of Limerick and Dublin City University. Information, transportation, communications and mobility have been transformed in the past ten or 20 years. We found, for example, that 19 institutions were delivering more than 40 courses for initial teacher training for primary and secondary school teachers. A recommendation has been made to reduce this number to a much more manageable and efficient group of six institutions. This arrangement will involve collaboration and co-operation between different institutions. We could do something similar with third level institutions.

That is why the HEA invited the institutions to indicate by the end of June in which direction they were going, where they saw themselves and the level of collaboration with other third level institutions in their regions. I am awaiting a report on this.

The HEA set out four clear steps that any institution that aspires to become a technological university must take. I outlined these steps in reply to an earlier question. The final decision on whether an institute becomes a new technological university will be made by an international panel of experts using objective criteria on the standard of academic competence the institute has achieved. It will not be a political decision made by myself or any future education Minister.