Skip to content

cearta.ie

the Irish for rights

Menu
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Contact
  • Research

Category: college funding

UDI – Universities’ Declaration of Independence?

16 September, 2008
| 7 Comments
| college funding, Universities

Mortar board, from TCD site.Given the ongoing debate over the possible reintroduction of student payment of third level fees, and the dangers that lurk there for the universities, a rather unnerving thought occurs to me. It may be that the best universities in Europe are not yet private universities, but Irish universities seeking the freedom to set their own fees might decide to “de-nationalise” and “go private” by means of a Unilateral Declaration of Indepdence. My point is not that Universities should declare independence from government on the matter of fees, but that they should declare independence from government in all matters. There would be steep legal and regulatory obstacles to surmount, but assuming that this can be done, it would give any universities that did so complete freedom of action, not only in the realm of fees, but across the board.

Of course, it will never happen. The universities’ ties to the government are very strong indeed, and go well past the question of fees. There are the various research councils and funding bodies which are a vital part of the universities’ cash flow, and they would not want to jeopardise that. Moreover, the government has recently indicated that it will acquire the universities’ pension fund assets; this will afford the government some cash flow in the short term, and meet a significant shortfall in the funds in the long term; and the universities would not want to jeopardise that.…

Read More »

Black Swans and The Tragedy of the Commons

16 September, 200817 September, 2008
| No Comments
| college funding, Uncategorized

Black swan, via wikipediaHow should universities promote research and, if necessary, afford it legal protection by means of intellectual property rights? Two considerations of that question have recently swum across my desktop.

First there is a new article by Michael Madison “The University as Constructed Cultural Commons” (SSRN) applying Michael Madison, Brett Frischmann and Katherine Strandburg “Constructing Commons in the Cultural Environment” (SSRN) to the university environment (hat tips: University of Pittsburgh School of Law Faculty Blog here and here). …

Read More »

University fees? Yes, Minister

12 August, 200816 August, 2008
| 3 Comments
| college funding, Irish Society, Universities

Water Cube, Beijing; via TCD webiste.Whenever I hear discussions of the funding of universities, my thoughts turn first to a classic Yes Minister (BBC | imdb | wikipedia) episode (imdb | synopsis | wikipedia | YouTube) in which the worthies in Sir Humphrey’s Oxford College lobby him against the pernicious effects of government funding policies. Much of that sketch is relevant to the current debate in Ireland about third-level tuition fees (Irish Times | RTÉ News), where it seems to me that two separate issues have been conflated (or confused) in some quarters. Moreover, one of these issues needs to be resolved before any of the other elements of the current debate can be properly addressed.

In 1996, when the Government “abolished” third-level fees, what actually happened was a little more complicated. …

Read More »

Posts navigation

Previous 1 2

Welcome

Me in a hat

Hi there! Thanks for dropping by. I’m Eoin O’Dell, and this is my blog: Cearta.ie – the Irish for rights.


“Cearta” really is the Irish word for rights, so the title provides a good sense of the scope of this blog.

In general, I write here about private law, free speech, and cyber law; and, in particular, I write about Irish law and education policy.


Academic links
Academia.edu
ORCID
SSRN
TARA

Subscribe

  • RSS Feed
  • RSS Feed
  • Subscribe via Email
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn

Recent posts

  • Three reflections on the role of policy in the law of restitution for unjust enrichment – updated
  • The Zong, In Our Time
  • The truth, pure and simple, as a defence to defamation claims after Depp v NGN
  • Still kicking the can on defamation reform after four years
  • Defamation, the Galapagos Islands Division of the law of torts
  • Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h-anam dilís
  • Striking the balance of the constitutional protections of free speech and good name in Irish defamation cases

Archives by month

Categories by topic

Recent tweets

Tweets by @cearta

Licence

Creative Commons License

This blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. I am happy for you to reuse and adapt my content, provided that you attribute it to me, and do not use it commercially. Thanks. Eoin

Credit where it’s due

Some of those whose technical advice and help have proven invaluable in keeping this show on the road include Dermot Frost, Karlin Lillington, Daithí Mac Síthigh, and
Antoin Ó Lachtnáin. I’m grateful to them; please don’t blame them :)

Thanks to Blacknight for hosting.

Feeds and Admin

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

© cearta.ie 2021. Powered by WordPress