The TCD-UCD partnership
Since I wrote on this topic last week, there has been a lot of media coverage and a lot of discussion, and indeed a lot of anxiety, over the nature and shape of the proposed collaboration between Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin. The speculation, or at least most of it, has now ended with the formal announcement by the President of UCD and the Provost of Trinity, attended also by the Taoiseach, the Tanaiste, the Minister for Education and Science and the Minister for Finance. I hasten to say that I was invited to attend this, but for genuine reasons of conflicting engagements was unable to do so. I have however read the statements issued on the occasion.
It is right to state at the outset that we must all be aware that the country faces extraordinary challenges, and that universities have a particular opportunity and obligation to provide leadership and initiative in this current environment. It is also right to say that partnerships and alliances between universities must be the right thing to pursue. And finally, universities and other higher education institutions now have an obligation, in order to maintain public support, to demonstrate that what they do can generate economic activity, create jobs and help get us out of the recession. And in that spirit I welcome and applaud the initiative which the two colleges have taken.
I would go on to say that other institutions, including my own, must continue with and step up our efforts to make a difference and to help solve the country’s problems. DCU will be launching its new strategic plan within the next two months, and will be announcing its own initiatives – as well as those it proposes to take with Irish and with major international partners.
In the meantime however, we must also ensure that the institutions in Ireland do not fragment, and do not come to the view that they must take competing and perhaps incompatible initiatives aimed at gaining advantage over each other, rather than in pursuit of the national interest. Welcome though today’s announcement is, it was preceded by an element of secrecy which was not helpful and which could have sowed the seeds of serious distrust in the sector. It is our job now to overcome that and to reinstate national collaboration and mutual support.
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University Blog 
March 12, 2009 at 9:18 am
Great BLOG (not just this topic) and while I might not agree with some of your comments I really like the way you say it…. Keep it going
March 13, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Thank you, Martin – that’s very kind of you!
March 12, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Make New Enterprise Development part of every course, at the very least optional, and provide a programme like the DIT Hothouse as an option instead of Intra.
March 12, 2009 at 7:25 pm
Do compulsory modules on Enterprise really work? Sounds good to funders, but the problem is everything is predicated on someone having a good idea that can then be translated to business and scaled up dramatically. What is amazing is the increasing numbers of people whose specialisation is ‘innovation’ and ‘knowledge transfer’ – are they the ‘heavies’ that are meant to lean on the scientists to force them to come up with something?
Hopefully someone in the universities has better ideas than those on display in “Dragon’s Den” otherwise the country is in real difficulty unless online cow dating-agencies, clothes lines with roofs and internal strip-lighting for handbags really take off.
March 13, 2009 at 6:43 pm
We don’t need entreprise courses at all. This ideas website and Dragon’s Den are just more of the same old BS from the same old people. We need innovation. There’s plenty of entrepreneurs down in the Commerical Court every day of the week.