Irish Federation of University Teachers » Promotions

Europe’s most efficient system of university education is being ruined, IFUT President tells 2010 Annual Conference

admin — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 12:53:12 +0000

The Irish University system has always had to struggle and was never properly funded, even during the years of the Celtic Tiger, the President of the Irish Federation of University Teachers, Hugh Gibbons, said in his address to the 2010 IFUT Annual Delegate Conference today (Saturday, 24 April 2010). Now the Irish University system is being ruined by the Government embargo and moratorium on appointments, the blocks on promotion and cuts in institutions’ core grants.

“In spite of underfunding, the Irish University system is a successful university system. The Heads of the Irish Universities regularly report that the Irish University system is about half the cost per student as an equivalent UK University”, the IFUT President said. Quoting a recent EU Report, he pointed out that Ireland is at the top of the ‘efficiency’ league table and stressed that:

Irish graduates are the most highly employable in Europe;
Irish universities have the highest graduation rate in Europe;
Ireland has the highest percentage of graduates in Europe;
Universities in Ireland, Finland and Sweden are given the highest ‘excellence’ rating by academics in other EU countries.

“The Universities are being ruined by the Government embargo and moratorium. Posts in Universities remain vacant as the Government refuses to allow their filling; as a result departments are struggling to maintain their courses.”

Hugh Gibbons concluded by stressing the breadth and variety of University research and the narrowness of the Department of Finance interest. “Universities carry out all kinds of research: research that is socially useful, that investigates the fundamental properties of nature, research into mathematics, into our history, languages, culture, education and even economics. The only research the Department of Finance is interested in, is research that would give rise to a commercial return and this mostly relates to Science and Engineering.”

The IFUT Press Release is available in full here. The President’s speech is available in full here.

Publication of HEA Employment Control Framework

admin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 22:18:41 +0000

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 late March. In their letter, the HEA stated that “with effect from 27 March there should be no filling of vacancies by recruitment, promotion or the payment of an allowance for the performance of duties at a higher level, except possibly in the case of academic and support posts that are considered essential to maintaining core service activities”, pending the publication of the Framework arrangements.

The HEA Employment Control Framework document shall operate from 1 July. It is available here (Members only).

IFUT secures Rights Commissioner award in respect of flaws in promotion process in NUIM

admin — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 11:32:49 +0000

A Rights Commissioner has awarded €4000 to an IFUT member in NUI Maynooth arising from certain inadequacies in the University’s promotion process.

The Rights Commissioner found in favour of IFUT in all areas of its submission. Specifically she said inter alia that:

The Promotions Board changed the procedures without agreement and after the application had been submitted and assessed.
There was no agreed appeals procedure.
The member’s Freedom of Information request was not dealt with before he lodged a “without prejudice” complaint.
The claimant was not told in advance that different values would be given to references depending on the qualification of the referee.

The Rights Commissioner also told NUIM to confirm to the member that his future promotional prospects would be in no way affected by the outcome of this promotions round.

Finally, the Rights Commissioner has also recommended the putting in place of a formal, agreed appeals process as a matter of urgency.

Both NUIM and IFUT have accepted the Recommendation and early implementation is expected.

The IFUT Press Release is available here.

IFUT wins Labour Court case to secure promotion to Associate Professor for member in UCD

admin — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 00:43:28 +0000

In an important Recommendation, the Labour Court has supported IFUT’s contention that UCD was wrong not to promote one of its members to the post of Associate Professor.

The member in question had twice won his appeals against his non-selection for promotion. The Appeals Committee had explicitly said that “it was unreasonable to conclude that you had not met the requirements for promotion to Associate Professor on grounds of Research and Scholarship”.

The Appeals Committee directed that this decision should be revised. They subsequently clarified this as meaning “to reverse”. The University Committee on Academic Appointments Tenure and Promotion (UCAATP) refused to abide by this directive, despite the fact that the Appeals Committee decisions are, according to university rules, “binding”.

IFUT has warmly welcomed this decision and congratulated the member concerned for his determination to stand up for his entitlements.

“By doing so he has won an important victory which will benefit many of his colleagues facing similar unfairness and obduracy”, said Mike Jennings, IFUT General Secretary.

The Labour Court Recommendation is LCR 19410 and was issued on 8 December 2008. More details are available here.