Welcome to the October edition of the IUA Bulletin in which we highlight our priorities ahead of the General Election. We are calling on the university community of staff, students and alumni to urge election candidates to #InvestInHigherEd.

We also invite you to join us for the final of the national Three Minute Thesis competition on Nov 13th to see talented PhD students talk about their work in double quick time.

Ask election candidates to #InvestInHigherEd

With a General Election looming we’re calling on the next government to honour the promises of Budget 2025 and to further #InvestInHigherEd.

We urge students, staff and alumni to ask election candidates to invest in higher education by supporting our key priorities:

• Back Students

  Improve student staff ratios and supports for students.

• Fund the Future

  Deliver the full €307m annual Funding the Future commitment.

• Invest in Research & Innovation

  Retain our competitive advantage with continued investment in research and innovation.

Three Minute Thesis

In other news…

European RPL Network Conference 5-13 Nov

This online conference run over 4 days (90mins per day) will gather Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) experts and practitioners from across Europe to discuss trends, challenges, and innovations, offering a great opportunity to network, share knowledge, and explore collaborations.

You can find all the event details, including the full agenda and speaker information, by visiting the link below. Please note that the registration deadline is 4th November:

Unmute Consent

This October we’re re-sharing our #UnmuteConsent campaign across social media. The core principle of the #UnmuteConsent campaign is to mobilise the student community to make a difference by speaking out, learning more about consent, and ultimately challenging and changing behaviours. 

The #UnmuteConsent campaign reinforces awareness and understanding of:

• The personal supports, and reporting procedures that are available to students,

• The role of the bystander in situations where inappropriate behaviour occurs,

• The standards of behaviour that are expected of all university students,

   

Learn more at hea.ie/policy/policy-development/unmuteconsent

In case you missed it…

The debate provided an opportunity to hear from the higher education spokespeople of the main political parties as to how they propose to deal with the funding challenges for higher education and research over the next 5 years.

The debate held in DCU featured Senator Malcolm Byrne, Fianna Fáil; Senator Joe O’Reilly, Fine Gael; Mairéad Farrell TD, Sinn Fein; Richard Boyd Barrett TD, People Before Profit; Senator Pauline O’Reilly, Green Party; and Senator Annie Hoey, Labour. Moderated by Gary Murphy, Professor of Politics in the DCU School of Law and Government.

This call funds international and inter-sectoral exchanges of staff involved in the research and innovation activities of participating organisations. The aim is to develop a sustainable research collaboration between different organisations from the academic and non-academic sectors.

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