Universities are being subjected to the same market-based, profit-driven policies that caused the crisis in the financial markets and face an increasing risk of a crisis in academic standards and credibility, David Robinson, [...]
The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) and the Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) have condemned the Government’s recruitment embargo in third-level institutes.
The Higher Education Authority (HEA) demanded that, this year, all Higher Education institutes cut employment to 3 per cent below 2008 levels. The ban has affected the academic quality, as well as [...]
The Government’s recruitment squeeze of academic staff at third level is likely to face a legal challenge from the group which represents university lecturers.
The seven university presidents have also been considering a court challenge against the new Employment Control Framework which some maintain runs counter to the 1997 Universities Act, guaranteeing their independence.
While university presidents [...]
The Presidents and General Secretaries of the four teacher unions (ASTI, IFUT, INTO and TUI) met today (8 September 2009) to prepare a strategy against further attacks on the education system in the coming months.
All four unions are gravely concerned that cutbacks already in place are having a detrimental effect on the education system. Staffing [...]
IFUT has released an important policy document on the Government’s employment policy for Higher Education
The main points of the IFUT policy are:
The Government’s Employment Policy for the Higher Education Sector is Illegal
The Government’s Policy is Politically Stupid
The Government’s Policy is Contradictory and Unworkable
The Minister’s Policy Will Lead to Higher Drop-out Rates
The Minister’s Policy is Anti-Democratic
IFUT [...]
IFUT has written to the European Commission to complain about a Labour Court decision affecting one of its members.
It is calling on the Commission to investigate Ireland’s non-compliance with the fixed term workers directive, and Fixed Term Workers Act, 2003, the statute examined by the Labour Court in the run-up to its decision.
The 2003 Act [...]
IFUT has issued a Press Release in initial response to the report by “An Bord Snip Nua”.
“This report, and, in particular, the parts of it which relate to education, will come to be regarded as one of the most short-sighted documents in Irish education history. At a time when more and more people are turning [...]
The HEA has published the Employment Control Framework for the Higher Education Sector.
This Framework was promised in the letter of 1 April from the HEA to the President/Provost of each of the seven Universities. This letter was sent in response to a letter from the Department of Finance to the Department of Education and Science [...]
In an important ruling, the Labour Court has determined that two Fixed-Term Contract Lecturers, who lost their jobs when the Department of Education closed St Catherine’s College of Education for Home Economics, must be paid the same ex-gratia redundancy as their permanent colleagues.
The Labour Court also awarded additional compensation of €2500 each to the two [...]
In a letter to The Irish Times in a further reply to Tom Begley’s article, IFUT President, Joe Brady, writes:
“Professor Tom Begley … argues for very high salaries for certain academics because that is what it takes to attract the world class. It would be a mistake to allow this viewpoint to take root in [...]