Northern Ireland’s two main universities have expressed their opposition to the establishment of an independent body focused on higher education oversight – despite experts saying such dedicated bodies exist elsewhere in Ireland and the UK.
In a motion proposed by a People Before Profit councillor at Derry & Strabane District Council, Queen’s University in Belfast (QUB) and Ulster University (UU) were asked for their views on a report from Ireland’s leading body of experts at the Royal Irish Academy (RIA).
RIA has highlighted how no higher education strategy exists in Northern Ireland, which it says demonstrates the need for oversight.
It specifically referenced a recommendation to establish an independent oversight body for higher and further education here.
The RIA report, focused on strengthening and stimulating third-level regional collaboration in the north-west, notes that Northern Ireland “is the only region within these islands that does not have a tertiary education oversight body to provide independent advice to government”.
It added: “It is difficult to envisage a HE (higher education) oversight body supporting such a geographically skewed distribution of HE places or concluding that such concentration would be in the interests of economic and cultural development or social cohesion.”
However, QUB Vice President Dr Ryan Feeney said he was “content” that the Public Services Ombudsman in NI provides an “appropriate oversight” and argued that a “specific provision for higher education is not required”.
QUB made clear it is supportive of university expansion in the north west.
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Vice Chancellor of UU, Paul Bartholomew, suggested that the recommendation for an independent oversight body was “underexamined” within the RIA report.
He claimed that such bodies “conduct no control of student numbers or patterns of distribution”.
Mr Bartholomew suggested a previous body that existed, before being abandoned in the 2000s, had “no impact” on the distribution of student numbers when it was running.
He claimed that oversight as outlined in the report is “incompatible with the autonomous nature of universities”.
At a council meeting on Tuesday, Sinn Fein also opposed independent oversight, with Councillor Emma McGinley claiming that this is the role of elected representatives.
However, the author of the report, Gerry McKenna, who was Vice Chancellor and President of the University of Ulster (1999-2006), disputed that assertion.
He said Ministers too require “expert advice” and it should be “independent”, but ultimately decisions fall to the Minister and Economy Department.
The fact a taskforce was set up to increase numbers at Magee indicates that autonomy “doesn’t rest with the university, it rests, obviously, beyond that”.
Mr McKenna said it is “incontrovertible” that Northern Ireland should have independent oversight, adding that the question should not be, ‘why should it have it?’ but rather ‘why does it not have it?’.
He said the previous Northern Ireland Higher Education Council (NIHEC) was advisory and its terms of reference limited it to advising on issues referred to it by the parent department.
“Nonetheless, it did advise on student numbers and research distribution as did the previous NI sub-committee of the Universities Funding Council,” he added.
“It was their advice that encouraged significant expansion at Magee and associated funding, which was welcomed by the University management at the time.”
Mr McKenna believes a body similar to the Higher Education Authority in the south would be appropriate.
“Ideally a body should be established which could perhaps be advisory but free to comment on any aspect of HE and FE,” he explained.
“To be cost-effective, such a body could use the technical apparatus of the Office for Students in England, the Scottish Funding Council or the HEA to do number crunching as appropriate. The key is that it should be independent.”
Meanwhile, the motion proposer Shaun Harkin said he is “alarmed” that institutions would oppose the creation of an oversight body.
He added: “If any organisation needs to be held accountable by the government, it’s Ulster University.
“If a survey of people in the north west was conducted, we’d find they agree.”
Campaigners, the Derry University Group, believe that in saying any oversight of the distribution of student numbers would infringe upon university autonomy, Mr Bartholomew is accepting that the current skewed geographical distribution is entirely the responsibility of UU, and he is clearly unapologetic for the current anomaly.
“‘UU has made it clear it can’t increase numbers in Magee, without impacting on Belfast. That should not be their decision to make.
“A proper scrutiny commission would ensure proper regional balance, which will require 6,000 full-time student places, at a minimum, transferred from Belfast to Magee, to meet the guarantee given under New Decade, New Approach.”