Speech by Dr. Michael Mortell,
President, University College, Cork
at the Conferring of Engineering Degrees, Monday, 22 July, 1996
 
Universities, the Intellectual Infrastructure, Employment in a Modern Society

I want to say a few words this morning about the intellectual infrastructure of this country, and particularly about the contribution of the engineering faculties in the universities to our society. I am saying this in the context of projection of a shortage of engineers and scientists in Ireland to drive on the economic boom we now experience.

We saw last week the announcement by Hewlett-Packard of a very significant expansion of their workforce in Leixlip. We also say on Friday's Irish Times that the MD of Hewlett-Packard said

"the challenge to Ireland is ... to continue to provide a suitably qualified workforce so that companies can expand and develop"

He went on to say

"we have found it difficult to find a sufficient number of women who are qualified as engineers and technicians"
 
and

"we are also aware ... that the number of students ... taking courses relevant to our recruitment needs may not be sufficient for our future demands"

The management of General Instrument, with a plant in Macroom, gave me exactly the same message when I visited their Head Office within the past six months.

There is a perception by multinationals that the "availability of a young highly educated workforce", critical to the attractiveness of Ireland as a base of operation, may be in jeopardy. We ignore this perception at our peril.

What are we going to do about it?

What have the universities been doing and what are they going to do about increasing the numbers? After all, we know the points for engineering are high, so there can't be a shortage of students who wish to study engineering and science.

So, where does the problem lie? The problem lies in the method of funding universities. To put it simply, the universities cannot afford to take in more engineering students, because the grant we get per student does not meet the cost of educating them, we do not have the money to properly equip our laboratories to modern standards, and we do not have the funding to expand our laboratories.

The most recent expansion in university numbers began in 1990. Since that time UCC as a whole has expanded by nearly 50%. But that expansion has hardly touched the Engineering Faculty. In 1990, the Government agreed that what the universities would get for each extra student was the tuition fee + �000. Where engineering was concerned, this would mean a loss to the university of about �500 per annum for each extra student we took in. Under these circumstances, no rational institution will expand its engineering numbers. By and large the universities didn't.

Let us look at the equipment available to the universities. Engineering is now very sophisticated, with a demand for very expensive equipment. If we are to train our students to enter modern, well equipped industry they have to be exposed to similar equipment in the university. If you walk into a modern electronics or telecommunications laboratory, you would hardly notice �0,000 worth of equipment.

Now: The total capital equipment grant for all the 7 universities was �million in 1994, �million in 1995, and 0 in 1996. Let me repeat, zero in 1996.

I will put this in context for you. Five years ago, it cost UCC � million to reinstate one laboratory in the National Microelectronics Research Centre after a fire. Compare � million for one modern laboratory with �million of the university system as a whole!. There should be an investment of at least � million per annum for a number of years just to bring university laboratories up to modern requirements.

The situation on the Building Capital side is similar. There has been money from Structural Funds, and last year the Government matched the � million which the universities raised privately, but there is not a consistent ongoing underpinning capital building programme funded at a reasonable level by Government. And yet engineering and science need laboratories, and thus capital funding.

There is a national strategic question here - a question of investment in the future, in the longer term, rather than short term palliatives. We are in the knowledge age, the information age. We see the growth industries in Ireland: electronics, computers, software. The jobs of the future will lie in these knowledge industries. We are told that the dominant resource in the coming decades is knowledge. The source of cutting edge knowledge lies within the universities.

The question is: do we as a nation invest now in the intellectual infrastructure - the system that turns out the trained brainpower - and capitalise on the competitive advantage of a young population willing and able to enter into the industries of the information age. There is an opportunity for Ireland to capture a larger part of a market, as there are skills shortages projected in some of the advanced European countries. This is a question of the future economic well-being of this country - the creation of jobs for our people. It definitely is not about education; and the funding of universities.

There has been a massive injection of funds into this country from the European Union under Structural Funds. An infinitesimal proportion has been invested in the universities, in the intellectual infrastructure, where the longer term benefit lies. If we want economic prosperity in the next century, if we want sustainable employment the jobs must come in large part from the knowledge industries. We have to invest now in the necessary infrastructure - not for the benefit of the universities, but for the benefit of the nation as a whole. If we do not invest now, those jobs will go elsewhere.

We are at a critical point. We have a booming economy. We have the resources for a longer term investment, an investment in the intellectual infrastructure, to ensure consistency and growth in employment over the longer term. But it will take an understanding by Government that there is an opportunity here, and a commitment, by Government to reorder priorities; to put more of a focus on the medium and longer term. The government has to understand that it is not a question of supporting universities; it is the central question of our times - how to create long term employment and wealth for the benefit of all in our society. And we are not talking about large sums of money in national terms, but the yield in jobs into the future could be very great.

If this investment is not made, the future prosperity of this country is in jeopardy.