Results 321-340 of 4,073 for speaker:Mary Mitchell O'Connor

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Athena SWAN is an award for which institutions apply. Only five universities have received bronze awards, namely, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University, the University of Limerick, University College Dublin and University College Cork.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Athena SWAN is an awards system. The awards available are bronze, silver and gold. It recognises the ways in which women are promoted in our different higher education institutions.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Anyone who knows me will know that I am a strong advocate for gender equality and I have set up a task force. We will receive a report from that task force in March, which will outline ways we can ensure that women succeed in being promoted in our universities. I am sure the Senator knows as well as I do that the first university in Ireland was set up 425 years ago, and there has never been...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I thank the Senator. The GDPR will come into force on 25 May 2018. It replaces the existing data protection framework under the EU data protection directive. Article 24 of the GDPR requires controllers, that is, the higher education institutions, to implement appropriate technical and organisational measures to ensure and to be able to demonstrate that processing of personal data is...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: The national framework of qualifications, NFQ, level 5 can refer to an honours level leaving certificate qualification as well as other types of further education. The amendment seeks to add to the requirement on applicant institutions such that as well as showing compliance with the eligibility criteria set out in section 29, an applicant institution would also demonstrate that it meets the...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (Resumed) (13 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I want to answer that. If we go back to pages 28 to 30, inclusive, and most of page 31, they set out the bar as the Senator describes it. We are calling this bar "eligibility criteria". This includes a requirement to demonstrate compliance with the eligibility criteria. They are in the pages I have just named. Section 28 sets out in detail the eligibility criteria and makes it clear to...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I have heard the contributions. The definition in the Bill was drafted by the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel to the Government. It is the standardised legislative wording. This definition mirrors the interpretation of the term "student union" as set out in section 3 of the Universities Act 1997.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I thank Senators Ruane, Higgins, Grace O'Sullivan, Gavan, Ó Ríordáin and Craughwell for raising the issue. I assure them we have heard the arguments and argued with the officials about what the best option is. We want the student voice to be heard in technological universities. I am hoping to go through some of the points the Senator made and show why we are rejecting them....

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I am going through the different points that Senators have made. Similarly, in section 82(5) of the Qualifications and Quality Assurance (Education and Training) Act 2012, when referring to charters, it says, "In preparing a charter, the governing body of an Institute of Technology shall consult, in such manner as the governing body thinks appropriate, with the academic council ... and other...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Again, I thank Senators, but I remain of the view that the current definition which is in line with the Universities Act 1997 and other relevant legislation is preferable. Therefore, I do not propose to accept the amendment.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I am delighted to listen to this debate. I spoke to many Senators, including Senators Coffey and Grace O'Sullivan from Waterford. The move to establish technological universities was taken on foot of a recommendation of the Hunt report which set out the strategy for higher education until 2030. The technological university concept was a key part of the recommendations made in the report...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I often heard that when students leave, they do not return. A technological university in Waterford and Carlow will strengthen the offer available to students who will be able to continue to masters and postgraduate level, including PhDs. While I know it is possible to do this now, we want to strengthen the offer. The functions of a technological university are listed in section 9, which...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I have listened carefully to the Senator and, if she does not mind, would like her to look at the Bill. Section 9 is approximately three pages long. In subsection (4) there is a clause on promoting an entrepreneurial ethos. Section 9(1)(c) provides that it will be a function of the technological university to "provide for the broad education, intellectual and personal development of...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I will hold my ground. I do not propose to accept that amendment because there are many points describing creativity, the need for innovation and the need for research. I know the Senator is looking at one word, "ethos", but this whole Bill describes what we hope the ethos of a technological university is. All of those concepts relating to innovation, creativity and the humanities are...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: We are talking about the strong social and cultural links and about innovation and research. This is not confined to the limits of one bullet point and the one word the Senator has focused on. The Bill is not about that. We should get what we want for our students.

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: No, I do not. What is the decision?

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Which amendment?

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: Section 16, on page 19, provides that academic staff shall form the majority of the academic council of a technological university. It also provides the governing body of each technological university, including its student members - this implies there will be student members in the governing body - with flexibility to decide for itself the overall number of members the academic council...

Seanad: Technological Universities Bill 2015: Committee Stage (7 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: In allowing the governing body, which has student members, to regulate the number of students on the academic council, the Bill is consistent with existing legislation under the Universities Act. I will read in full the relevant part of the Act for Senator Norris's benefit in case he believes I am leaving out important parts. Section 28(1) is as follows:28.—(1) The majority of...

Seanad: Commencement Matters: Third Level Fees (6 Feb 2018)

Mary Mitchell O'Connor: I thank Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee for raising this matter. Internships are an increasingly important element of higher education programmes and are a means of strengthening the link between higher education and the workplace. They afford students the opportunity to apply their learning to a work environment, thereby enriching both the student and the workplace. In particular, academic...