Title page of
Locke on Education (1693), often seen as a starting point of the Enlightenment.

Are Irish universities committed to Enlightenment ideals?

A forum on recent and forthcoming developments in Irish higher education policy and legislation.

These issues will be dicussed in a forum which will be held in the Examinations Hall (Public Theatre), Trinity College Dublin, from 7:30pm on Thursday 16 April 2015 (booking here).

Speaking in the Seanad recently, the Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, said that the government was considerably advanced “in setting in train the legislative underpinning for the modernisation” of Ireland’s higher education system, which would include legislation to “support the new funding, performance and accountability framework for the system that is being put in place” and to “strengthen and reform the governance structures and accountability of higher education institutions”. In that context, she said that research and innovation are of major importance given their role in contributing to economic recovery, competitiveness and growth, and she said that the government wished to encourage higher education institutions to engage strategically with EU research funding programmes. In particular, she said that “a broader Higher Education Reform Bill, the general scheme of which is currently being drafted, will … contain the amendments to the Universities Act [1997] necessary to implement governance and accountability reforms”.…

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