The Irish-language group, Conradh na Gaeilge, have criticised the University of Ulster for ending its full-time Irish degree on their Belfast campus. Due to cuts, the university announced last week that it had decided to close its School of Modern Languages which included French, Spanish, German and Chinese. Consequently, as part of that same reduction and re-organisation, the university had decided to move its full-time Irish course to their Magee campus in Derry. Part-time courses in Irish will still be available in Belfast, however.
Conradh na Gaeilge said the decision was a “blow” to students in the city and called on the Minister for Employment and Learning, Mr. Stephen Farry, MLA, to think again. While acknowledging that his department was facing a funding deficit, the group said that the decision did not make “sense”. Irish-medium education was a growing sector and interest in Irish in the North was strong.
The group’s spokesman, Mr. Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin, said that there was “great demand and indeed over-demand for this course; it would not make sense to end a course which was so successful. Conradh na Gaeilge is also disappointed that there will be no full-time Irish-language students based on the university’s biggest campus, on which they are spending £250 million”. Mr. Mac Giolla Bhéin said that the most recent National Student Survey had shown that the full-time degree had a 100 per cent satisfaction rate.
The university said in a statement today that full-time undergraduate Irish-language course provision was to be “rationalised” at Magee campus and that the Belfast campus would retain part-time provision. While no immediate number of possible job losses amongst Irish-language teaching staff was available, the university did say that they were “estimating circa 185” job losses amongst all university staff. However, the final number would “only be confirmed once the voluntary redundancy process had run its course”.
In a statement issued last week, the university said that they had to cut 1,250 student places and around 200 staff posts. The Vice-Chancellor Paddy Nixon said that it had “not been an easy process, particularly for affected staff, many of whom have given many years of commitment to the university and our students. It is however, an opportunity for this institution to reinforce its position as we look to our future vision and growth opportunities”.
