.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
The University Times Irish Student Newspaper of the Year
Trinity Twenty
The University Times Magazine
Interview with the Minister for Education: Page 6
special supplement
goes pigeon racing
TCD to pioneer radical admissions process » 40 Law school students to enroll in pilot scheme Louise Duffy News Staff ON 24TH of October, Trinity College University Council will be asked to approve a feasibility study on an alternative admissions criteria, the results of which may have major implications for the future of Irish third-level education. The feasibility study will be submitted by College’s Senior Lecturer (Dean of Undergraduate Studies) and aims to establish whether attempts to radically reform undergraduate admissions practices in Ireland could be successful. The pilot scheme will involve the alternative allocation of around 40 undergraduate places in 2014, and could well set in motion an historic break-away from the current ‘points race’ method of admitting students to third-level education. Under the scheme, the allocation of places would be based on a combination
of Leaving Certificate results, performance of students relative to others in their school (Relative Performance Rank), and other ‘contextual data’, likely to be ascertained by means of an application form. Th is application form would give students an opportunity to explain why they should be given a place on a particular course in Trinity for reasons other than traditional academic merit as determined by the Leaving Certificate. The applications would be assessed by a fi nal review panel likely to consist of 40 people, including Trinity academics and admissions officers as well as external and international experts. Students would be given the option to apply for the alternative entry route via the CAO after selecting Trinity as one of their preferred colleges. The main goal of the reforms is to be able to admit those with passion and flair for their chosen subject, and those independent and
» College hopes to increase diversity on campus
critical thinkers whose potential is not being identified by the largely rote-learning based leaving certificate, explained Senior Lecturer Professor Patrick Geoghegan, the driving force behind the reforms. ‘These are the people who will thrive at Trinity,’ he added. Speaking to The University Times, Dr. Geoghegan explained that he also hopes that a new system would lead to increased diversity on campus. At present, all of Trinity’s top twenty feeder schools are fee-paying schools located in the greater Dublin area. However, due to the relative performance component of the scheme, we are likely to see schools with little tradition of sending students to Trinity make a bigger impact. The relative performance rank would come into play, for example, where one student obtains 470 points and did the best in their school, and the other got 490 points but comes from a school in
which 490 was an average score. The proposal would justify awarding the place to the student with the lower score on the basis that the lower Leaving Certificate score may be more meaningful given the context in which it was achieved. The relative performance rank, however, will be only one scale used in the assessment, and all three modalities (Leaving Certificate results, RPR and the supplementary assessments) will play an equal role in the assessment. It is also suggested that the new scheme would ease the difficulties of certain EU students attempting to gain a place in Trinity, as often the conversion of their results to Leaving Certificate points is unfavourable. The fact that this may be taken into account will be particularly significant to A-level candidates in Northern Ireland. The scheme will run for at least two years. If it is a
Library budget to be cut by €792,000 Fionn O”Dea Deputy News Editor
Trinity College Library’s budget for the year is to be cut by a net sum of €792,645, The University Times has learned. The cuts will affect investment in books, periodicals and conservation among other areas but will not affect the salaries of library staff. The library’s opening hours, meanwhile, have avoided tampering, having been targeted at this stage last year. The focus of the cuts is constrained by the terms of the Croke Park Agreement. The agreement guarantees that public servants will not have their salaries cut until 2014, other than those applied in 2009 and 2010, and protects public sector workers from compulsory redundancies until the same date. Despite recent calls from opposition parties in the Dáil to revisit
the agreement, Taoiseach Enda Kenny claimed early last week that it would not be subject to “unilateral renegotiation.” The library, however, will continue to suffer from a decrease in staff numbers. By the end of the month, three staff members will have retired during this calendar year, with no replacements coming in. The library has lost over twenty staff members in this way over the last three years. Th is is as a result of the college-wide Employment Control Framework (ECF) that prohibits the replacement of lost staff. The ECF is a tool for government to achieve their intended reduction of public sector numbers to 294,700 by the end of 2014, equating to an average annual reduction of approximately 3,300 between the years 2011 and 2014. Speaking to The University Times after the last round of library cut-backs,
Library Keeper Trevor Peare commented that the loss of staff with only “bits and bobs” arriving as replacement meant that the library was suffering from a loss of institutional memory. He stressed that it was the absolute intention of library staff to keep the doors open at all costs, despite the necessity to move staff from the front desk. The cuts are part of a continuing trend of cuts in College, reflecting decreased investment in the education sector and a desire for third level education to function as less of a burden on the public fi nances. The mandatory Student Contribution Charge currently stands at €2,250 and will continue to rise by €250 a year until 2015. Earlier this month, meanwhile, College announced plans to double the number of non-EU students studying in Trinity to 2,000, in part to boost revenue streams.
Towards the end of the last academic year, Trinity Library introduced a new self-service borrow/return system that allows students to conduct their business in the absence of library staff. There is believed to be no correlation between these cuts and the library’s move towards increased self-service, however, the presence of such technology is likely to soften the blow on students caused by likely future cuts. Despite the severity of this year’s cutbacks, returning students will also notice the new printing and copying service that has begun operation in the Library. Payment for these machines is to be conducted electronically, meaning that students will be able to top up their accounts at a machine in a copying room or online. Kopikat cards formally used to print in the library will be incompatible with the new system.
success, it will be expanded, with much higher numbers of students being admitted in this way. The results of the study will be sharedwith the other Irish Universities and Institutes of Technology, with many expected to follow suit with what is essentially a national pilot scheme. Th is prediction is made in light of the fact that the Leaving Certificate grading scale is likely to be reduced, which would lead to more instances of random selection if no supplementary assessment were available. Dr. Geoghegan and his team are particularly confident that if the scheme is successful, it will change undergraduate admissions in Ireland forever; ‘If this is successful, Trinity will have proved that there is a better and a fairer way of doing things.’ ‘As Ireland’s leading university, we have a public and a moral obligation to attempt this.’ Early risers prepare for Freshers’ Week.
Photo by Louise Duff y
Ents records €15,000 loss Eánna Drury News Writer
Trinity Ents fi nished the 2011/12 academic year significantly over its projected annual budget, as the underperformance of several widely-marketed events and the cost of subsidising the club nights of many societies lead to a total loss of €15,000, The University Times can reveal. The presiding Officer, Chris O’Connor, watched events such as the Rag Ball and the Freshers’ Ball incur large losses as established promoters, from Midnight to Signature Group, began offering student-friendly nights out at a low cost with which Ents could not compete. The annual Freshers’ Ball, for years a staple of the Ents calendar, made a loss of €10,000. A late cancellation from English hip-hop duo Rizzle Kicks, who had been booked to headline, forced O’Connor to book lower-profi le London rapper Wretch-32 as a replacement. However, with the initial popularity of the event fading in light of such a high-profi le cancellation, O’Connor was forced to sell tickets at a
largely-discounted price in order to sell out the venue. Similarly, the Halloween Ball, headlined by Nashville rock band Mona, sold out by offering tickets at a reduced rate but made a loss of €2,000. Club nights also provedfi nancially straining, as professional promoters began aggressive campaigns to lure students away from nights organised by Ents. Midnight representatives, for example, began giving out wristbands to Trin-
able to make enough of a return on the night and so we decided that switching our main clubnight to the Village was the best option. We faced some incredibly tough competition from the likes of Midnight and Signature Group and I think we did the best job we could have given the circumstances.’ Despite the heavy losses suffered by many events, some events exceeded expectations. The highly-succesful and costly visit of
O’Connor has said he’s very happy with the performance of Ents last year ity students queuing for Ents’ ‘Mondays at Club M’ night which entitled them to free entry to Midnight’s established Alchemy’ event. Th is, coupled with the slowgrowing interest in Ents’ new club night ‘Madhaus’, caused O’Connor to make several drastic changes to maintain some competition with external promoters. Speaking to The University Times, O’Connor said ‘We took a gamble on Madhuas and invested a lot of money in that night early in the year. However, we weren’t
Calvin Harris to Dublin in Freshers’ Week broke even, and €3,000 of profit was earned from the well-attended Summer Sessions. Most positively, TCD students, their efforts driven by O’Connor’s team, managed to raise €12,000 for charity: Ents’ second-most successful Rag Week ever. Th is extremely impressive figure, however, was countered by a €3,000 loss by The Rag Ball. While recognising the unsatisfactory reception
Thousands of hospitality jobs are waiting for you in Western Australia Free Seminars Dublin 2&3 October 2012
www.travelandworkwa.com
of some events, O’Connor, while admitting to being ‘disappointed that we (Ents) couldn’t break even this year’, explained that he ‘was happy with how things went overall’, pointing at the success of many events in light of serious external competition as an example of the benefit an Ents officer can have on college life. Commenting on the losses, O’Connor’s successor and current Ents Officer Dave Whelan emphasised that ‘it would be dangerous for Ents to make profit maximisation its primary aim. Ents is a service to students and the feedback from them has been really positive. Our mission is to offer the best entertainment to students in a manner which is fi nancially viable. Whelan also explained that Ents have altered the Freshers’ Week format in order to avoid some of the problems that arose last year. ‘’We’ve moved the Freshers’ Ball to the Monday of Freshers’ Week because, in the past, that event has been leaking revenue. I’m really excited for the coming year and I think Ents is going to lay down a strong marker this week’.
O h o
Th St pr