Third level literacy levels, Hozier, Rembrandt and bilingualism

News, views and opinions from Student Hub contributors and Irish Times writers

Hozier: “I assure you if I wanted to make a f**king pop song I would have written a pop song, because it would have been far easier” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Hozier: “I assure you if I wanted to make a f**king pop song I would have written a pop song, because it would have been far easier” Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill

'Some of the stuff I was grading was the worst I've ever seen – even from good students'. Lecturer Greg Foley could scarcely believe what he was seeing when marking his students' lab reports recently. Carl O'Brien writes.

He was without doubt the greatest Dutch artist, some say the greatest painter of all time. Now, some 350 years after he was buried in an unmarked grave in Amsterdam's Westerkerk, the Netherlands celebrates Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, writes Lara Marlowe.

Stardom is rare. Household-name-around-the-world superstardom is even rarer. Reduce it to the mononymous – Elvis, Madonna, Beyoncé – and you're down to a handful of individuals. And there, quietly among them all, lies Hozier. Louise Bruton talks to the Irish artist about his meteoric rise to fame, missing his anonymity and how keeps his balance by refusing to play the fame game.

Students Daniel Gilligan and Ronan Daly from Trinity College won the grand final of The Irish Times Debate 2019 on Friday night. Aaron Bowman reports.

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On Wednesday 20 February, the Union of Students in Ireland Vice President Michelle Byrne and NUI Galway's Students' Union President Megan Reilly spoke in the Oireachtas about the Residential Tenancies (Greater Security of Tenure & Rent Certainty) Bill 2018. Áine Kenny reports.

International recruitment agencies are offering Irish trainee teachers thousands of euro up-front to move abroad to teach in subjects such as science and maths, according to academics, writes Carl O'Brien.

Éanna Ó Caollaí

Éanna Ó Caollaí

Iriseoir agus Eagarthóir Gaeilge An Irish Times. Éanna Ó Caollaí is The Irish Times' Irish Language Editor, editor of The Irish Times Student Hub, and Education Supplements editor.