Are Fees Back On The Agenda?
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has thirty members, mostly concentrated in Europe and North America but also including such countries as Mexico and South Korea. Its stated aim is to promote convergence in policy development between its members. Like most international institutions, it is firmly committed to the neoliberal orthodoxy which dominates thinking on economic policy. Minister Dempsey has clearly asked the OECD to produce this report because he expects the report to confirm his own pre-conceived views on the subject. Over the next few months, we will be told again and again that the OECD report is impartial and objective, so it is important to remember from the start: the OECD is not impartial, it has an ideological agenda just like all the other players in this debate, and its policy recommendations are determined by this ideological bias.
Media leaks suggest nature of forthcoming OECD report on 3rd level education
Noel Dempsey has commissioned the OECD to produce a report on third-level education that will back up his agenda for Irish universities. Plans to re-introduce fees may be revived, and the report will almost certainly recommend a greater reliance on corporate funding for universities, with dire consequences for access and academic freedom.
Read on at http://www.ucdsu.net/newswire.php?story_id=108