Mar 01 2011
I read an interesting article today that was making the case against merging the Irish Universities. I had been in favour of this, but based upon the numbers presented I think that I need to rethink!
The article is The claim that we have too many universities is simply wrong, but note that it is written by a former president of DCU.
Feb 18 2011
Ouch – German ‘plagiarism’ minister Guttenberg drops doctorate.
Of course, somebody in Ireland did something similar in Ireland within the last 10 years…
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Feb 08 2011
It is election time in Ireland at the moment, but I am not going to discuss politics. However, I can still write about the political manifestos as long as they relate to technology. The policies that caught my attention today come from the Irish Green Party, and they are contained in We will recover if we play to our strengths.
The first interesting policy is:
Transfer all public services to cloud computing
This really makes me wonder if the author understands what cloud computing means! “Public Services” in the election context generally means tangible services that are available to the public, such as policing, health, and education. I am unclear how health care will be provided by cloud computing :D
Seriously, is it meant that all government computing will be performed in the cloud? This raises many interesting questions:
If I was a cloud provider, I would probably be very excited about the opportunities here (as long as I ignore the political opinion polls).
Another policy that caught my attention is:
Invest €70m in web training for 20,000 unemployed people who can then work to web-enable Irish business
Hmmm… I think that I would instead focus on improving the take-up of science and computing for those already in education at all levels.
Provide access for the private sector to Government data
Interesting… Was the Green Party not involved in curtailing Freedom of Information rights during the last few years?
Finally, the last policy that caught my attention is:
Roll out ultra fast broadband Exemplar network nationwide
The Exemplar network is very exciting (see Exemplar Network), but I do not think that it is ready for a nation-wide commercial deployment yet. Also, I do not think that this would be the best usage of this technology.
I think that the cynics will wonder why the Green Party did not do these wonderful things during its time in power :|
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Feb 01 2011
There is an interesting, if not somewhat unpalatable, opinion piece in The Irish Times today about the future of third level education in Ireland: Learning from the global phenomenon of “universities in crises”.
In summary, there are three options presented for the ongoing funding of the Irish universities:
I am strongly in favour of the the first and last options, and I think that the idea of student fees should be avoided. As part of reducing costs, I think that the reality of merging some of the universities needs to be considered. (This has to happen in a real sense, and not just in name.)
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Jan 25 2011
Wow – all is certainly not well in Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) according to Testing times in the west.
Thankfully I have never heard most of these complaints in relation to any of the Dublin universities. However, the one exception would be that I have heard anecdotal stories about exam boards boosting grades to reduce failure numbers, even though the students did not deserve this.
I guess it is all part of the unfortunate process of dumbing-down Irish education :(
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Nov 11 2010
Earlier this week I wrote about the huge, and unwarranted, costs of certain staff in Top Educational Salaries in Ireland. So today I decided to stay with expenditure in Irish education, and write about something that has really been annoying me for the last two weeks.
Somebody told me about an article describing how a UCG research group called DERI has been spending the tax payers’ money that was given to them by Science Foundation Ireland. The article is very revealing, and it can be read online: Tighter Controls at NUIG Research Institute Following Expenses Controversy.
I will quote some of the more astonishing revelations…
Tighter controls have been implemented at a research institute at NUIGalway after a hundred thousand euro was spent to hire private jets. The private flights were for researchers and academics at the Digital Enterprise Research Institute, DERI, at NUIG, in 2004.
The wastage continues…
Other expenses incurred include 154 thousand euro to send dozens of DERI staff to a luxury resort in Crete for conferences.
Shame on you both UCG and DERI for your pathetic self-interest at the cost of everybody else.
So what is the outcome of all of this?
Current DERI Chief Executive, Michael Turley, says policies have been tightened since those expenses were incurred.
What is wrong with this country? Why have those involved in this embezzlement, and those who were supposed to be overseeing it, not being charged with criminal activity? How come they have not been fired? Is it to much to ask that they be forced to pay it back? Even a public apology to the taxpayers whose money was squandered would be a start. Is policy tightening really the best outcome to this? It stinks!
It is sad, because the dishonesty of one group, and the incompetence of its university, will generate a negative impression regarding all of the research groups and universities in Ireland. I certainly would be ashamed to be associated with such a shambolic research group.
I also think that Science Foundation Ireland must share some of the blame here. At the minimum, it should immediately suspend all payments to UCG, until this money is repaid.
I also wonder should the spending of other similar research groups be scrutinised more closely?
Nov 09 2010
There is really interesting reading in The top 100 best-paid in education.
I think that to a large extent the Irish third level educational system has become inflated with its own self importance!
Nov 02 2010
I recently described a few changes I would make to second level education in Ireland in Reforming Second Level Education in Ireland.
Today I read the more thought-out educational reforms suggested by Fine Gael (the largest opposition political party) in No more Republic of average.
I do not agree with all of the points. However, I was surprised to see that we have a common vision for the future direction of the compulsory teaching of Irish:
4 Abolish compulsory Irish
I passionately believe that Irish should not be a compulsory subject for the Leaving Cert. Sixteen-year-olds should make up their own mind if they want to study Irish. In my view the destruction of the language is based upon compelling every Irish student to study Irish whether they like it or not.
We need to introduce other European languages at a much earlier stage. Less than 15 per cent of all primary schools provide a modern European language, excluding Irish and English. Our performance in this area is not good enough. Our future success will be based on our students having greater aptitude in all languages. The earlier we offer new languages in the primary curriculum the easier it will be to reach the European average later in a child’s development.
I think the chances of this happening are significantly greater now!
Oct 28 2010
Interesting read, but not really surprising – Computer science courses get highest drop outs – study.
In my personal experience, the biggest cause of drop-outs in computer science is students pursuing computing because they think that it can form a lucrative carer, even though they dislike working with a computer.
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Oct 13 2010
After writing about Maths yesterday in Reforming Second Level Education in Ireland, I read this facinating article today: Homer+Bart×maths = prime formula for comedy genius.
I am particularly impressed with Mersenne prime numbers, perfect numbers, and narcissistic numbers!
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