A year of political tumult
Exam Special
Looking at the ramifications of US political upheaval
Top tips for study and stress management this exam season
Pages 10–11
Pages 16–18
Hudson Taylor in the Bailey Allen See SIN's photographer's photos of the gig Page 24
Funding crisis for Institutes of Technology By Briain Kelly
FREE STUDENT NEWSPAPER | VOL 18, ISSUE 06 | 22 NOV 2016
#ROCKTHEREGISTER NUI Galway Students’ Union register nearly 400 students in voter drive
USI President Annie Hoey Photo: Irish Times By Sorcha O’Connor With the election of Trump and the matter of Brexit earlier on in 2016, it was good incentive for the NUI Galway Students’ Union (SU) to push for students to register to vote before the next general election. From 14 – 18 November alone, nearly 400 students had been registered by the SU. This push coincides with a nationwide campaign from the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). The USI expects to register over 10,000 students to vote before the formation of the next government. They have teamed up with SpunOut.ie and the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) for their #RocktheRegister campaign and said that this is a strategic move to empower students and to get political parties to prioritise funding in third level education.
USI has registered over 80,000 new student voters over the past two years and hoped to register thousands more on 16 November. “The amount of students USI has registered to vote over the past few years is outstanding,” said USI President Annie Hoey. “We are encouraging students to register to vote at their local students’ unions and are drilling home the message that their vote is their voice and their vote is what shapes the composition of the next government. The figures of new registered student voters in the past two years outline the hunger young people have for getting involved in current affairs, politics and issues that directly affect them like educational matters. Students are really energised to vote in this election and to make sure their voice is properly heard. We’ve seen across Twitter and Facebook how many students are
excited to register their vote, and voice, but today is only the beginning of our campaign to #Rocktheregister over the coming months.” Executive Director of SpunOut.ie Ian Power said that there is a vast amount of issues concerning young people and campaigns such as #RocktheRegister are key to persuading young people to use their voice to get results. “There are so many pressing issues we’re seeing at the moment that have clear political solutions; whether it be the lack of student housing and affordable rents, the very high cost of education, the difficulty young people still face in finding good quality jobs or any number of other things,” he said. “The only way any of these problems is going to be fixed is through young people mobilising and having their say in changing this country for the better, just like they did with the Marriage Equality referendum last year.”
Institutes of Technology (IoT) in Ireland are undergoing a crisis in funding according to the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). The USI was reacting to a report published by the Higher Education Authority which shows, that the cash balances of the IoT sector has declined by nearly a half in the last three years from €218 million in 2013 to €116 million at present. Further, the report projects that the deterioration will likely continue for the next five years with colleges such as Letterkenny IT, Waterford IT, GMIT, Tralee IT, Dundalk IT, and Cork IT identified as being at particular risk. USI President Annie Hoey emphasised that these figures were indicative of growing with the infrastructure of the ITs. “While staff and teacher wages take up a huge part of the expenditures for these IoTs, staff numbers have dropped by over 10% while student numbers have continued to increase. We are urging Minister Bruton to allocate appropriate public funding as a solution to the problems outlined in this report,” she said. The problems facing the IoTs stemmed directly from the government’s lack of investment in third level education, the USI have said. An immediate increase in base funding by the government is required in order to prevent IoTs from being forced to impose caps on student numbers or close their doors altogether. What the USI wants to avoid above all else is for the government to resort to the same method of dealing with funding shortfalls in higher level education that were employed throughout the recession, that being: increases in fees. Hoey also rules out the viability of a student loan scheme; “Income contingent loans abroad in the UK, US, and Australia do not work. Our government must put their money where their mouths are and invest more now without burdening people with debt.” “We already have the 2nd highest fees in Europe and the 8th highest fees in the world. Clearly, high student fees do not necessarily lead to a quality system. Over 12,000 students, staff, parents and workers took the streets against any increase in fees. The system is cracking, and our current model does not work.” An increase in fees would hit students who attend IoTs disproportionately harder than students at Universities. Hoey pointed out that IoTs have the largest proportion of students in receipt of maintenance grants. A student loan scheme was speculated on prior to budget 2017 but did not manifest. Prior to the issuing of the budget, 5,000 students marched through Dublin with the USI demanding proper college funding rather that loans that put a burden on students. The USI emphasised the role that ITs play in regional industrial development, and warned that under investment would have severe economic consequences down the line.