Hot on the heels of last week’s reports that Irish university heads are seeking pay increases of up to 55%, today’s New York Times reports that At Universities, Plum Post at Top Is Now Shaky. Many of the reforms undertaken in the Irish university sector have been controversial, but we have not yet reached the situation in the NYT report, where several university heads have been ousted. Is this the shape of things to come, if not in Ireland where the sector seems to be coming to terms with the reforms, then perhaps in England: in Oxford, just before Christmas, similar reform plans were defeated, though the Vice Chancellor remains in place, at least for now.…

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Three pieces in today’s Irish Times relate to the state of higher education in Ireland today. Superficially, they all seem positive: the government is giving the sector more money; a consultant sets out a vision for the sector’s future; and the South East calls for a university. In other words, the univerities, their heads, and the South East, are all asking for something on the grounds that they are worth it.

Look more closely, however, and the three stories betray a malaise at the heart of Irish higher education. …

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According to reports in the Irish Times and Irish Independent (here and here), a submission from the Irish University Association to the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector argues for a salary increase of up to 55 per cent for the seven heads of Ireland’s universities on the basis that they now face considerably greater complexity and accountability than heretofore in a global, highly competitive market. In fact, another article in today’s Irish Independent provides an intriguing vignette of how competitive the business of attracting students has become. The presidents’ jobs may indeed have got harder (they are certainly doing more, and more controversial things (see Sean Barrett and Tom Collins)). However, the jobs of all us at every level right across the sector have become that much harder. If they’re worth it, so are we.

Update 16 January 2007: Ed Walsh has weighed in on the side of the Presidents; John Walshe reports in the Irish Independent that the IUA has made a similar case to the Review Body on behalf of professors; and Sean Barrett has sounded a loud counterblast in favour of a pay boost for lecturers rather than presidents.…

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