'We're losing the Messis and Ronaldos of education. Irish colleges need more funding'

THERE IS THE risk of a brain drain in Irish universities unless funding levels are dramatically increased, according to one of the country’s top academics.

Trinity College professor Luke O’Neill said that organisations in Ireland are struggling to compete against their increasingly well-funded rivals in Asia.

He said that funding for Irish universities, which dropped from €723 million in 2007 to €522 million in 2014, needs to be restored and even increased above previous levels.

O’Neill, who specialises in inflammation research, is the founder of promising Irish health startups Opsona and Inflazone, the latter of which recently raised €15 million to help explore new treatments for chronic inflammatory diseases.

He pointed to the Times Higher Education World University rankings, which showed that Irish universities failed to make the top 200 while several Asian colleges jumped up the table, to show the impact funding cuts have had.

Speaking to Fora at the 2016 BioPharma Ambition Conference in Dublin today, O’Neill said that the university rankings have had a serious impact on the perception of Irish education.

“All the employers look at them, foreign students look at them and it’s also demoralising for us as staff. No one wants to be in a university that’s falling down league tables,” he said.

“The Asians are moving up because they’re investing, and they’re getting the Messis and Ronaldos because they pay big money for academics there.

“They’re bringing in these academics, these academics perform, all their metrics go up, it’s as simple as that. If you stand still it means you’re going down because these guys are going up ahead of you. It’s not as if we’re not performing, it’s that the Asians are outperforming us.”

More money

Asked if funding should be restored to previous levels he said: “It’s got to go beyond that. The universities have to make their case (and say) ‘If you give us the money, this is what we can do with it’.

“It’s not a case of writing a blank cheque, but the truth is you can’t compete unless you’ve got money (and) what is Trinity supposed to do? We depend on the government for so much of our money that if they cut us, we’re kind of helpless.”

Luke O'Neill (right) and Science Foundation Ireland director general Mark Ferguson

Asked what the effect will be if funding is not restored he seemed to half-joke: “I’ll be going. Possibly. If people like me are feeling like we’re part of a defective, hopeless system, what else are we supposed to do?

“I’m very loyal to Trinity but I have research ideas and I want to pursue them. I want to be part of an environment that’s dynamic and moving forward. Not only will we not recruit, we’ll lose some of our best staff (to other universities). It will definitely begin to happen if this continues.”

Funding options

O’Neill acknowledged that other areas of the country are also looking for government support, and said that different funding ideas will have to be examined.

He said that one method would be increasing college fees, but said that that would squeezes the middle class “who are paying for everything else anyway”.

“The compromise is a loan system where a student gets a loan and pays it back when they get employment. I think that’s the solution because you do get a big economic benefit from getting a university degree,” he said.

He said that such a system “is not ideal” and added: “In the Scandinavian model the government pays for everything and that’s the ideal, we pay enough tax already (but) there are competing demands on the exchequer so the Scandinavian model probably won’t wash.

“There are creative ways to provide loans, you could wait 10 years before you start paying them back (or) in Australia your salary has to reach a certain threshold and then you start paying back,” he said.

“That might work (but) without that extra money coming in we’re going to keep falling down those tables.”