Following the Irish Examiner’s report that the Government plans to ask colleges to reduce the number of days students must be on campus in a bid to ease the student accommodation crisis, IFUT has issued a strong response clarifying that tweaking timetables will not solve the fundamental shortage of affordable housing for students.
In its letter published below, the Irish Federation of University Teachers argues that this proposal misunderstands both the nature of third-level education and the roots of the housing emergency, and calls on the Government to prioritise public investment in high-quality student accommodation instead of suggesting reduced campus presence as a housing fix.
Response to IE article 23/02/2026
Colleges to be asked to cut on-campus days to ease student accommodation crisis
Dear Sir / Madam,
The Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT) has been warning for many years about the damaging impact of the accommodation crisis on third-level students and staff. What students are experiencing today is not the result of how universities organise their timetables, but the predictable outcome of sustained failure by Government to deliver affordable, publicly supported student housing at the scale required.
Any suggestion that reducing or revising class timetables could meaningfully address the accommodation crisis is misguided. It is frankly ludicrous to imply that rearranging teaching schedules, or compressing students’ time on campus, is a solution to a national housing emergency.
Students attend university not only for lectures, but to access libraries, laboratories, student supports, social spaces, and the wider academic community. The campus experience is central to learning, progression, and wellbeing. Attempts to frame reduced campus presence as a housing solution risk normalising diminished educational provision and shifting responsibility away from where it properly lies – with the Government.
IFUT strongly supports the expansion of high-quality, affordable, publicly owned student accommodation. Investment in such accommodation should not influence university management’s development of academic policy. Unfortunately, accommodation costs have played a significant role in management’s decision-making. Ongoing inadequate central funding has left universities reliant on generating income wherever possible, and in some cases, this has led to the prioritisation of revenue from student accommodation over its core educational mission.
Universities and staff cannot timetable their way out of a housing shortage. Students cannot commute their way out of it either. This crisis will only be resolved by decisive, sustained Government housing policy and public investment.
Anything less is an abdication of responsibility.
Frank Jones
General Secretary
Irish Federation of University Teachers (IFUT)