The University at Work

The Green Paper ‘Education for a Changing World’ makes far-reaching proposals on the future of Irish education. Sweeping changes are envisaged at the third level, where demand for places continues to rise sharply. A new unit cost funding mechanism has been introduced, ostensibly to achieve improved cost-efficiency and transparency in the disbursement of public funds. The efficacy of the system relies on the identification and proper assessment of the full range of university pursuits which extend beyond the central provision of formal education. This impacts on the university's ability effectively to use its comprehensive knowledge base to the benefit of industry and to participate in direct and indirect job creation, which is Ireland's most pressing problem. This, in turn, points to the need for suitable performance indicators to evaluate the overall contribution of universities. Consideration of these issues forms the central theme of this article.