According to figures published in the OECD’s Education at a Glance 2026, which has been launched this moring, Ireland had 19 tertiary students for every member of teaching staff in 2024, compared with an OECD average of 15. The Irish figure has improved slightly from 20 to one in 2015, but remains considerably above the OECD average.
No single ratio can describe the experience of every student or staff member. Nevertheless, these figures point to a problem that IFUT members know well: student numbers and the demands on our institutions have grown without a corresponding investment in the people who teach, support students and conduct research.
“Higher education staff need time to prepare classes, assess work, give meaningful feedback, supervise students and carry out research,” said Frank Jones, General Secretary of IFUT. “Students need access to those staff. When staffing fails to keep pace with student numbers, the pressure is felt on both sides of that relationship.”
The OECD also records expenditure on staff compensation in Irish tertiary institutions of USD 8,547 per full-time equivalent student in 2023, adjusted for purchasing power, compared with an OECD average of USD 11,181. This measures spending on staff across tertiary institutions; it is not a measure of university lecturers’ pay. Taken alongside the student-to-staff ratio, it raises a question about whether investment in the workforce is keeping pace with what is being asked of it.
The need for greater investment is hardly a new finding. In 2022, Funding the Future, launched by Simon Harris when he was Minister for Further and Higher Education, identified a €307 million annual gap in core higher education funding and committed to addressing it over successive budgets. Additional funding has since been provided, but institutions continue to face increased enrolments, agreed pay costs and other rising costs.
“The €307 million gap was recognised by Government itself,” said Jones. “The issue now is whether successive budgets will provide the sustained funding needed to close that gap and meet the costs of a growing sector. Acknowledging underfunding is of little use if staff and students continue to live with its consequences.”
That concern is shared across higher education. In its Pre-Budget Submission 2027, the Irish Universities Association calls for an increase of €190.2 million in annual core grant funding, including funding to address legacy deficits, agreed pay costs and increased student enrolments. AMLÉ is also campaigning for publicly funded, accessible higher education. Universities, staff and students bring different perspectives to the debate, but their calls for investment reflect the same underlying pressure.
For students, that pressure is felt in the availability of teaching, feedback and support, as well as in the wider cost of participating in higher education. For staff, it means trying to meet those needs with too little time and too few colleagues. These are connected experiences. Students cannot receive the education and support they deserve unless the people delivering them have the time and resources to do so.
This is the argument IFUT has made in The Case for Publicly Funded Higher Education and in our Pre-Budget Submission 2027. If Ireland intends to expand participation while maintaining excellent teaching, research and student support, it must provide the core public funding and staffing to make that possible. IFUT has called for sustained investment, dedicated funding for permanent academic recruitment, improved student-to-staff ratios and secure career pathways.
Recruitment must also address the nature of the jobs being created. As IFUT has documented in its work on precarious employment, too many lecturers, tutors and researchers work on hourly paid or fixed-term arrangements, often without a clear route to a secure career. Continuing teaching and research needs should be met through secure posts. Reliance on insecure employment makes it harder for institutions to retain the expertise on which students and research depend.
“We cannot discuss staffing numbers without discussing precarity,” said Jones. “If the work is ongoing, institutions need the capacity to employ people on a secure basis. Staff need a future in higher education, and students need the continuity and expertise that secure employment helps to provide.”
This year’s OECD report gives particular attention to the attractiveness of teaching as a profession. Much of that analysis concerns school teachers and should not be read as a direct survey of university staff. It does, however, speak to issues IFUT members raise regularly: workload, employment security, professional autonomy, career development and recognition of their work, alongside pay.
“According to the OECD’s latest figures, Ireland still has substantially more tertiary students per member of teaching staff than the OECD average,” said Jones. “The improvement since 2015 should be acknowledged, but the gap remains. Government has recognised the funding problem; the IUA is calling for substantial additional core funding; and students represented by AMLÉ are campaigning for a properly funded, accessible system. Budget 2027 is an opportunity to make measurable progress.”
“IFUT’s position is clear. We need adequate and sustained core funding, more permanent academic posts, action on precarity and structured engagement with the staff and unions who deliver higher education. Those who teach, research and support students must have a voice in decisions about the future of the sector.”
Source for OECD figures: Education at a Glance 2026, Tables D2.2 and C5.3 and Chapter 1. The staffing ratios relate to 2015 and 2024; the staff expenditure comparison relates to 2023. OECD definitions may differ from those used in other Irish or sectoral publications.