Falling ranks of Irish Universities due to lack of funds

The majority of universities in Ireland have recently seen quite a plummet in regard to their world ranking. Six out of eight of the universities who ranked high in the world rankings had to suffer quite a fall from their position.

Trinity College Dublin which was considered one of the top ranking universities ranked a commendable 88^th before falling to 104^th. University College Dublin fell from 168^th place to 193^rd   as well adding to the list. NUI Galway dropped to 260^th which is the first fall the university has seen since 2011.  University College Cork has seen a drop from 283^rd to 338^th but the University also says that the drop was not along the line of other reports that has more positive feedback for the University

Rankings are based on employer and academic reputation as well as countless other factors. QS has said that academic as well as employer reputation saw a decrease in ranking across Irish Universities which were the key factors that played a role in the low University Rankings.

Prof Andrew Deeks who is the president of the University College Dublin which is the biggest University in the country said the fall in position was due to a lack of State funding as well as limitation during employing. Prof Andrew Deeks also made a similar statement a year ago when he said that if funding for higher education did not see a very necessary improvement, there would have to be a reduction in available seats for students. He further compared Universities in Ireland to Chinese universities saying that China is investing billions into lowering the teacher-student ration in their universities while Ireland is seeing less and less funding for education. In his opinion, this is the primary reason why student fees are skyrocketing and ranks are falling since Irish Universities are being beaten by countries that are willing to spend more.

Prof Doyle who is the dean of research at Trinity College Dublin said that investing more funds into higher education is important not just for Trinity but for Ireland as well with the country’s economy being dependant on highly qualified staff.

A higher education seminar that was recently conducted at the Institute of International and European affairs discussed the fall in ranks of Irish Universities with most speakers linking the fall to a lack of funding. Dr Graham Love, the chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, said the reduction in state funding and an increase in students are the factors that contributed. He described the current funding model that Ireland has as “not sustainable” comparing funding in 2009 to funding in 2016. There was a 38% per cent decrease in funding between the two years.

Speakers at the seminar as well as people who have spoken out about the fall in ranking, in general, have said that employment limitations, lack of state funding and an increase in the number of students who are applying are the factors that contributed to the fall in regard to positions.