Today, USI and Students’ Unions who represent Social Care students have collectively written to CORU, the Ministers for Further and Higher Education; Health; and Social Protection, Quality and Qualifications Ireland and the Higher Education Institutions urging them to convene discussions with a view to mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on social care students. Social Care students across the country are facing difficulties in securing and completing placement due to the current COVID-19 restrictions. This is likely to result in many students failing to meet the 800 practical placement hours required by the relevant professional body, CORU meaning that many students […]
[…]the two year rent freeze reform from the government will provide rent certainty for both tenants and landlords, and this scheme could benefit students because they will be less likely to move into a place and then be forced to move or fork out more rent; it is not as beneficial for students moving out of their family homes as they will still be hit with increases. It’s also unfortunate that the rent freeze has come in at a time where the cost of rental accommodation is this high – it’s the largest three-month jump in rent since 2007 at […]
[…]for Ireland’s third level students to become indebted to a finance programme that is privately run and profit-driven. Not even in the U.S. does this situation exist. The government there offers student loans and the majority of students who opt to take a loan favour the federal route. USI’s main priority is, and has always been, to ensure access to education for all students regardless of their socio-economic background. There is no avoiding the conclusion that an escalation of ‘debt culture’ combined with consistent increases in fees will lead to the exclusion of students from lower socio-economic backgrounds; students who […]
[…]key asks for a number of years. It will also look at the levels of financial support provided and USI will continue to campaign to ensure these are in line with the cost of living, as per our current Education for All campaign. We welcome this announcement, but this really must be more than a paper exercise and we will continue to lobby to ensure this is a meaningful process. However, as the findings of review will not be published until summer 2021, it is important that steps are taken in the meantime to support widening access and broad supports […]
[…]13/AUG/2013 Higher Education Performance Targets nothing to be afraid of Union of Students in Ireland (USI) welcomes increased accountability in measuring the performance of Higher Education Institutes, but warn against impact of funding cuts USI is calling on Higher Education Institutes to set themselves challenging targets during the initial phase of the new Higher Education Performance Framework, reported in yesterday’s Irish Independent, with a view to increasing the quality of the education and student experience being offered to Irish third-level students. Many of the areas which the performance targets will measure, such as student retention, participation in research, employability, a […]
