Wednesday, October 2, 2019
thecollegeview.com
. Est. 1999 .
Seven new accommodation buildings planned on Larkfield’s remains
Credit: DCU Coady Architects
Tadgh McNally & Brendan Fernando Kelly Palenque | Editors @thecollegeview
Trinity provost threatens to cut student numbers Sally Madden | Deputy News Editor
T
he provost of Trinity College warned that it may need to cut its student numbers in order to regain its previous international
ranking. The suggestion comes amid calls for increased Government funding after TCD dropped 44 places in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. TCD Provost Dr Patrick Prendergast told the Sunday Business Post that State funding per student was down from an average of €9,000 ten years ago, to just over €5,000 today. Meanwhile, student numbers at the college have risen from 8,000 in the 1980s to 18,000. Dr Prendergast explained the university may have to cut its Irish student numbers by 5 per cent in the next 10 years, but added it would be regretful to do so, saying “we are here to serve all our students.” President of the Union of Students in Ireland, Lorna Fitzpatrick has said
Highlights
that while third-level education is underfunded, TCD’s suggestion that it may cut student numbers to recover its international ranking is using students as “pawns”. “Two wrongs don’t make a right,” she said. Fitzpatrick also added that international rankings can be “problematic because of what they are measuring and how they are measured.” On Prendergast’s reference to specifically cutting Irish student numbers, Fitzpatrick says that international students are being used as “cash cows,” as they pay higher fees. Trinity remains the only Irish university in the top 200 of the UK-based Times Higher Education rankings but it has plummeted from 120th place last year to 164th. A similar fall next year would mean that no Irish university would be ranked in the top 200 in the prestigious Times Higher Education listings. The rankings are based on a range of measures including the staff to student ratio, research volume, income and influence, links to industry in terms of innovation, inventions and consultancy views and the ability to attract international students and staff. Irish universities are blaming cuts
to funding for the slip in international recognition. While there has been a €350 million increase in third-level education funding since the publication of the Cassells report on options for future funding of third-level education in 2016, state funding remains 43 per cent below what it was a decade ago. However, the number of students attending Irish universities is expected to continue to rise over the coming decade, according to Jim Miley, director-general of the Irish Universities Association (IUA). “That bulge in student numbers will continue to grow over the next decade with an estimated 40,000 extra students to be catered for by 2030 as compared with 2015. “In that scenario, the funding problem will get considerably worse unless there’s a significant step-up in investment to support our growing student base.” “There is now unanimous support for a comprehensive programme of investment amongst employer leaders, unions and students with Ibec, Irish Congress of Trade Unions, USI and Chambers of Commerce, all advocating significantly increased state investment,” he said.
Comment
Gaeilge
Climate Change Will protests make any difference to our future? pg. 11
Beatha teanga í a labhairt
an Gaeilge agus imreoirí CLG na mBruiséile pg. 15
D
CU logged planning permission to build a new student accommodation complex with seven buildings, ranging from five to 10 storeys tall. Larkfield, sports pitches and the car park beside them will all be demolished to make way for the complex, which is planned to be finished in the 2023/2024 academic year The complex will consist of 1,240 beds, which will be contained within 213 “cluster units”. In each “cluster unit”, there will be between five and six individual bedrooms as well as a shared living and kitchen space. According to the design statement, all student rooms will contain “an ensuite, full size double bed and study desk with integrated storage”. USI Vice President for the Dublin Region Craig McHugh welcomed the news, but expressed concern with the interim loss of Larkfield’s 252 beds. He said: “There’s a price to pay when you knock down student accommodation.” DCU’s Chief Operations Officer Declan Raftery said one option is to construct some of the complex before demolishing Larkfield. One apartment in Larkfield currently costs €5,665 for the academic year. Raftery said he couldn’t disclose how much the accommodation would cost when it’s completed. Raftrey added that they were very concerned about the cost of student accommodation. He also said: “I think it’s a bit unfair we’ve been penalised now with the residential tenancy bill that now our rates are capped despite the fact they’re way below the market rate”. McHugh said there was no justification for the price to be more expensive. He added that “Yes proportionally they’re [DCU] the cheapest… they’re not affordable rates.”
Alongside the accommodation, there will be retail spaces available inside the complex. The central management, which currently resides inside the DCU Sport complex, will also be moved to new offices within the new accommodation. Within the design plans, there are multiple shared spaces that would be made available for students who live within the complex. The planning design statement says, “It is a place of comfortable, casual seating where people could engage in leisure activities from gaming to knitting and reading to napping.” With the demolition of the 123 adjacent parking spaces, new basement level parking would be built increasing the total spaces to 176, of which five will be disabled parking spaces. Only 5.4 per cent of the increase in student accommodation are provided with a car parking space. The plans also include bike racks, with space for 620 bikes. The sustainability strategy for the complex includes plans like solar panels. According to the planning design statement they will have “highly insulated and airtight constructions with high-efficiency heating systems installed.” Water reuse is also planned through rain harvesting, which will provide water for toilet flushing and irrigation requirements. The secretary of DCU’s sustainability society, Ríonach Hurley said the sustainable aspects of the plans were “a really good idea”. “If we’re building new, we might as well build sustainably and incorporate more sustainable practises into the building… things like solar panels and using rainwater as wastewater, that’s a really good idea,” said Hurley. In the last few years, DCU has built a new student centre, extended the Stokes building and redeveloped the Mall. McHugh said "It's a campus that loves construction."
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Jonny Cooper
The research linking music and mental health pg. 18
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