Papers of James Meenan – Move of UCD to Belfield

We have been asked by the Dublin Branch of Tuairim to examine the position of higher education in Ireland, and to make suggestions for the future.

Many broad topics come up for consideration, for example, the suitability of our secondary education system as a basis for university and technological education; the changing functions of the university, with its increased emphasis on professional training; the facts of easy admission to our universities for those who can pay the fees (which are nothing like the real cost), and of little assistance given to those of ability who cannot afford the expense; our present and likely future need for graduates from the various faculties; the present structure of our higher education system--the N.U.I. with its three constituent colleges, Dublin University with one, the College of Surgeons, and the Institutes of Technology in Dublin--and the lack of co-ordination within that system.

These subjects all deserve detailed examination. However, a matter of great urgency has arisen with the publication of the Report of the Commission on Accommodation Needs of the Constituent Colleges of the National University of Ireland. We are publishing this Memorandum to bring our views on some aspects of the first chapter of that Report to the attention of the public.

Criticism has already been levelled against those who did not give evidence to the Commission but now question its findings. In reply to this, we point out that the detailed facts on U.C.D. accommodation needs were not available to the public, and even a member of the Governing Body of U.C.D. claims not to have been fully informed (Attachment II to Chapter I of the Report). Without these facts informed submissions on the U.C.D. accommodation question could not have been made. The Commission has performed a valuable function in obtaining the facts, and the public is now for the first time in a position to review the situation. It is a pity that the chapter on U.C.D. (which was presented to the Government a year before the final Report was published) was not made public immediately, so that submissions could have been made before the Commission completed its study.

The present text is a revised version of our earlier stencilled Memorandum.

We wish to thank the many people with specialised knowledge of the subjects with which we deal who gave us great assistance, and to thank those who generously subscribed to the cost of printing.

The views expressed in this Memorandum are our own and not necessarily those of the Dublin Branch of Tuairim or of its members.

Signed,

HAROLD CLARKE, B.A. ELIZABETH HEALY RONAN KEANE, B.A., Barrister-at-Law JOSEPH McCULLOUGH, B.E., A.M.I.C.E.I. HENRY McERLEAN, B.A., B.Sc. PATRICK T. MOORE, M.Sc., Ph.D. MARY O'REILLY, B.Arch. FRANKLIN J. O'SULLIVAN, B.C.L., LL.B. FRANK WINDER, M.Sc. (Group Chairman) 37 Park Drive, Rathmines DECEMBER, 1959.

6 U.C.D. and the Future

1. THE COMMISSION AND ITS REPORT

The Commission on Accommodation Needsof the Constituent Colleges of the National University of Ireland was appointed on 26th September, 1957. Its terms of reference were: 'To enquire into the accommodation needs of the constituent colleges of the National University of Ireland and to advise as to how in the present circumstances, these needs could best be met.'

The Report of the Commission was published on 2nd June, 1959. It consists of four chapters, the first of which, on the needs of U.C.D., had been presented to the Government as an interim report on 14th June, 1958; the second on U.C.C. was presented on 18th October, 1958; whilst the third on U.C.G. and the concluding chapter were presented on 1st May, 1959.

The first chapter and the concluding chapter give the Commission's view that the space requirements of U.C.D. cannot be met on or near its present site, and that the only solution is for the College to move to a site on the Stillorgan Road over a period of five to ten years. The Commission further recommends that the Government should make £6,700,000 available to the College over this period for building needs.

Narrow View of Terms of Reference

The Commission admits (Report p.3) that 'other solutions might present themselves if the terms of reference had invited views upon co-ordination within the University or over a wider field.'

We do not believe that the Government intended to fetter the Commission by limiting the possible solutions to the problem. Neither can we agree that its terms of reference compelled it to treat each College as if it existed in isolation and to exclude all examination of the possibility of co-ordination within the N.U.I. (leaving the 'wider field' aside for the moment).

It was not, for example, excluded by the terms of reference from considering the duplication of faculties (particularly the expensive medical and technological faculties) within the N.U.I. Can, or need, the N.U.I. adequately develop its three medical schools or its three engineering schools?

In fact, the Commission did insert one recommendation in this regard, when it says (Report p.77): 'The provision for the accommodation needs of the Faculty of Agriculture in University College, Dublin will require adjustment if a full Faculty of Agriculture is established in Cork.' But why the reference to agriculture only - what about medicine, engineering and the sciences.

Such questions were, we maintain, well within the terms of reference of the Commission and should have been considered by it particularly as it was required to consider the needs of the N.U.I. within the framework of present conditions. The financial considerations involved in duplication and triplication of faculties are of paramount importance.

The Minister for Education at the first meeting of the Commission (15th October, 1957) said that 'it would be their task to examine the problems objectively and to relate them to the national need.' This latter task the Commission failed to accomplish.

Dublin's University Area 7

Taking its narrow view of the terms of reference, the Commission has attempted to produce an answer to a purely artificial question: 'What would be the needs of each College of the N.U.I., if it existed in isolation, serving the community immediately surrounding it, and if no other institutions of higher learning or of medical, agricultural or technological education existed in the country?'

To this hypothetical question the Commission has provided one answer. But we are as far as ever from a realistic solution of the problems of university education in Ireland, or even of the problems of U.C.D. Indeed, we hold that the Commission's recommendations on U.C.D. have only bedevilled the matter.

Haste in Deliberation

The Commission may partly be excused for its narrow view of the terms of reference by the fact that it was under considerable pressure to complete its study rapidly owing to the urgency of the accommodation needs of the colleges and particularly of U.C.D. It is regrettable if the Commission allowed itself to be rushed by this. A temporary solution by limiting student numbers, or by providing temporary accommodation, would have been preferable to an incomplete examination of the problem.

This was the first public examination in many years of any part of the Irish university question and the very first examination of U.C.D.'s acquisition of the Stillorgan Road estates. It took place at a time critical to the development of the Irish universities and of higher education in general including, in particular, technological, medical and agricultural education. The times are critical also in the wider spheres of national economics and industrial development, spheres in which the universities will have to play an important role. After so many years of official inactivity in the matter of the University College, the fullest, unhurried consideration should have been given to all the factors involved.

II. DUBLIN'S UNIVERSITY AREA

Advantages as a University Site

Few, if any, capital cities in Europe have within their university areas as much open space as exists in Dublin in the area extending from Trinity College southwards to the Grand Canal. We, have, in turn, College Park, Merrion Square, Leinster Lawn, St. Stephen's Green, Iveagh Gardens and 'the Lawn.'

Further, the built-up areas between and around these open spaces have a very low density of building. Virtually all the existing buildings in the area were dwelling houses (though now converted, in most cases, to office use) having long back gardens and, frequently, extensive mews (vide - the area between Merrion Square South and Baggot Street, or between Lr. Earlsfort Terrace and Leeson Street, or between St. Stephen's Green East and Pembroke Street).

University College, Dublin, is not hampered in its desire for expansion, as were older universities in other capitals, by being surrounded by edifices of great historical, cultural or architectural value (as in Paris, Rome, Madrid, Vienna) or by extremely valuable commercial property of very high density (as in Stockholm, Copenhagen, London or in the British industrial cities).

30 U.C.D. and the Future

with workshops for the building trades apprentices taking courses there -- an asset of great value. The issue therefore which must be decided at top level is whether there is justification for the provision from public funds of two equally elaborate and well-equipped schools of Architecture situated in the one city to serve a maximum number of approximately 200 students.

The functions of the two Schools

Until recent years the Bolton Street school did not attract the best entrants to the profession, the U.C.D. school being unquestionably the premier school. While this state of affairs prevailed, the two schools could be said to fulfil separate functions, Bolton Street catering for those who did not matriculate or who could not afford the university course. However, there have been significant changes in recent years, the cumulative effect of which has been to establish the Bolton Street school as equal if not superior. The results of these changes are to be seen in the successful record of Bolton Street students and alumni in recent open competitions and in the high esteem in which the graduates of this school are held by the senior members of the profession, indicative of which was the inclusion of the phrase 'preferably not University trained' in a press advertisement seeking the services of an architect ('Irish Times,' September 29, '59).

Apart from the raising of standards which has taken place at Bolton Street, it is now proposed that this school will be authorised to award a diploma having the status of a university degree, and that admission will be by an examination of the standard of Matriculation. When these plans materialise, the two schools of Architecture will cease to have separate functions, and a powerful incentive will exist for a shift in student numbers from U.C.D. to Bolton Street, as not only will equal or superior training be offered but it will be available at a much lower fee.

The effect of moving to Stillorgan Road

The view is widely held that schools of Architecture are best sited in busy urban areas close to the heart of the local building industry, trade and commerce, and that schools which divorce themselves from the industy tend to become purely academic. Whether the theory be valid or not, the removal of the university school to Stillorgan will take it away from close contact with the Royal Institute Library, the College of Arts, the Building Centre and not least the offices of the practising architects, quantity surveyors, contractors, builders providers and manufacturers. The effect of this must inevitably be to enhance further the status of the Bolton Street school vis-a-vis that of the University.

Conclusion

A possible solution to the problem of the future of architectural education in Ireland may lie in the University school specialising in purely academic and professional formation while the College of Technology would provide the technical training. Any such scheme of amalgamation would, of course, be made much more difficult by the removal of the U.C.D. school from its present location. The problems, however, are properly the concern of the educational committees of the professional institutes, who alone are competent to provide the solutions. The University authorities cannot be ignorant of the problems

Problems in the Proposed Move 31

confronting the profession with regard to the future education of its members and in the circumstances it is difficult to imagine that the University would, if dependent on its own resources, embark on spending £250,000 on a school of Architecture at the present time.

Until the problems are resolved, it would be unjustifiable for the Government to sanction expenditure of this order from public funds for a school which might never be required.

The Inefficient Use of Space and Equipment

In the teaching laboratories and workshops of a university, all too frequently the 'efficiency of plant utilisation is deplorably low.' A discussion of this problem by Sir Eric Ashby will be found in Appendix G.

When overcrowding is absent, the laboratories and workshops, in all but the final advanced years, may be in use for no more than three or four hours a day during term, and in some subjects, and depending on the curriculum and time-table, perhaps on only two or three days a week. However, assuming that a workshop is in use for four hours every day of term and that the college is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with an hour for lunch, then the plant is in use for 50% of the time during term. But three terms extend in all to about 26 weeks in the year so the plant is in use for only 25% of the available time. If it is in use on only three days per week during term then the plant utilisation efficiency sinks to a mere 12 1/2%, i.e. expensive plant which could be turning out much needed technologists and technicians is lying idle for seven-eights of the time during normal 'working hours' on week-days throughout the year. This is not the way to get an adequate return on a heavy capital investment.

The advantage from this point of view in securing co-operation between universities and institutes of technology is obvious. Such institutes cater for evening as well as day students. They also provide part-time and 'sandwich' courses and short specialised courses both in and out of term. Even allowing for the fact that time is needed for 'cleaning up' say one hour after each threehour class, then the plant can be in operation for nine hours each day (i.e. taking a morning, an afternoon and an evening class). Further, the working year for the plant is extended from 26 weeks to something more like a calendar year.

Such considerations are amongst those that have operated in so many centres elsewhere to ensure the co-operation and co-ordination of universities and technological institutes, particularly in the subjects of Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and Chemical Engineering in which the capital cost of equipment is very high. In Dublin, can we afford, or is it logical to disregard this example?

Considerations in Regard to the Foregoing

We are of opinion that because of the lack of co-operation between the universities and the institutes of technology, the institutes have been forced into the position of providing full professional courses for those students who either cannot afford, or for other reasons do not wish, to attend a university. A position in the development of the institutes has now been reached in which

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(a) Irrespective of numbers of students in the laboratory; i.e. a class of 5 or one of 25 both count equally as 'occupied.'

(b) Assuming a 23-week (classes begin a day or two late and end a day or two early and only 22 weeks of the year are occupied); and a 44-hour week less 5 hours for lunch from Monday to Friday.

(c) Number of student places X number of hours vacant in year.

The number of student-place hours of teaching space in this building (excluding a seminar room which is used by honours students on and off all the time), available in the year is about 80,640. The number of student-place hours actually used is about 15,760, an overall 'efficiency of utilisation' of 19.5 per cent.

This is the first problem I want to put to the Conference. The present pattern of university teaching and the present design of science teaching laboratories is such that most of the accommodation is not in use most of the time. I have assumed that if a 100-place laboratory is occupied even by 5 students laboratories are large enough for the numbers of students. The problem I bring tot your attention is the large proportion of time over which the laboratories are altogether empty.

Perhaps this is an insoluable problem. Certainly universities find it impossible to solve by adjusting time tables. It might appear simple to split up large classes into small goups which do their practical work in relays, and so economise laboratory space. This is in fact what is done in the United States. A class of (say) 250 students is split into ten groups of 25, each under a separate instructor. So the laboratory does not need to hold 250: a capacity of 25 is enough, and the laboratory is occupied by one group or another for most of the time throughout the week. Of course some of the saving in laboratory space is offset by the fact that retiring rooms are needed for the ten instructors. And I have calculated--through it is very dubious arithmetic and you might not be prepared to accept some of the assumptions that the saving in capital cost invested at 4 per cent would just about pay for the salaries of the extra assistant lecturers (for that is the rank of academic teacher we would need in Britain) necessary to deal with the smaller practical classes. But this doesn't mean the solution lies that way: there are great difficulties in the way of adopting such a solution as this in Britain. For if the class is split into relays for chemistry, it has to be split into corresponding relays for physics and zoology and botany and geology: in fact for all other subjects in the faculty; and for all other subjects there would have to be corresponding increases in staff. And even if the capital were to be invested for salaries instead of being monumentalised in bricks and mortar and plumbing, there would not under present circumstances be nearly enough candidates for the posts which would have to be filled.

Appendix H

LEADING ARTICLE FROM "THE IRISH INDEPENDENT," 4th JUNE, 1959

Last Things First

In our issue of yesterday we published a summary of the recommendations of the Commission on the 'accommodation needs of the constituent colleges of the National University." It would be unjust to criticise the Members of the

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Commission on their findings. Their terms of reference held them cribbed, cabined and confined from the outset. They were permitted solely 'to inquire into the accommodation needs of the Constituent Colleges.' No more. Thus did the Minister for Education and his colleagues in the Government tie their hands behind their backs.

Of course this was ignoring the main problem. Since this State was estab-- lished almost forty years ago we have never had a comprehensive inquiry into university education in Ireland. The subject raised a multitude of problems which the members of this Commission were not allowed to examine.

One may mention only some of these problems. What are to be the future relations between the existing Irish Universities? It is desirable that the Irish universities or university colleges should be residential? If there is to be a new university building centred on Dublin should it be in the city (as is now in effect proposed) or well removed from it? Is it desirable that there should be some form of co-operation or relationship between the universities and the several professional institutions for the education and training of solicitors, barristers, veterinary surgeons, accountants, pharmacists, primary teachers and secondary teachers? Should the aim be to disperse some of the faculties or to give them autonomy rather than to attempt to retain four thousand students in one institution?

These, as we have said, are but some questions to be answered and in our view to be answered before the country embarks on an expenditure that may run to over £10,000,000 before the job is finished. Not only were the members of the Commission forbidden to consider any of these aspects of university education but they were further handicapped by the fact that even in the limited approach permitted to them they had to take cognisance of the fact that University College, Dublin, had forestalled their decision and presented them with a fait accompli by the acquisition of some hundreds of acres of land in Stillorgan.

For years this paper has endeavoured to have some light shed on these transactions at Stillorgan; but in vain. It is impossible to think that the Governing Body of University College would have entered into these vast purchases without the express sanction of the Government and with the sole object of rehousing the college there. Yet no Minister of any Government has admitted to such sanction.

We are well aware of the pressing needs of the Dublin college for more room, one might almost say bare breathing space. The present plight of University College, its staff and its students, is a discredit to the nation. If there is now to be further delay in dealing with the matter the blame rests on the present Government and on previous Governments for their failure to put first things first. In our view any serious consideration of the Commission's report should be postponed until the people decide what they want in the way of a comprehensive system of education involving not only the universities but the training of professional men whose courses are at present outside the ambit of the universities. The people should decide not alone what types of institution the country needs but where those institutions are to be located.

72 U.C.D. and the Future

Part of the accommodation trouble at U.C.D. is that students who take a course that involves the study of science have not touched the subject previously. These students should not be accepted by the university authorities until they have undergone a satisfactory course. It would hardly be fair to require from Irish students the high standard in scientific subjects that is necessary to gain admission to an English or Scottish university. To get the best results from university education involves a much higher standard of technical and secondary education, a considerable increase in scholarships to attend these schools, and far more generous provision in the matter of university scholarships than is at present available.

More technological institutes, such as those provided at Bolton Street and Kevin Street (Dublin) will have to be erected. The provision of such a college in Limerick where a demand exists for the establishment of a constituent college of the N.U.I may be an acceptable solution. The writer would suggest that any institute established at Limerick should provide for the needs of the higher management in the building industry and for the large numbers who engage in estate dealings and management without any technical qualification (at present not more than a dozen or so of the firms in the Republic who engage in this work possess staff who hold professional qualifications). The recognition of course outside the college as acceptable to it would, of course, require an alteration in the College statutes.

One proposal in the Commission's report that interests the present writer particularly is that to establish a school of geography at U.C.D. It is hoped that the proposed school will include a course in advanced land surveying similar to that at Bristol and other universities. U.C.D. also requires, as a matter of urgency, better facilities for hydraulic research, and this should be met regardless of what decision is come to on the Commission's report.

The Commission consider that, for the proposed buildings at Stillorgan Road, an open architectural competition is desirable and that the scheme should include a great hall to serve, as required, as a concert hall. It is estimated that the college would take up to ten years to build, and in the view of one member of the Commission the proposal would cost nearly £10,000,000 to build.

Appendix J

SOME OTHER VIEWS

(i) An Article from 'The Tablet' (4th July, 1958)

"To Dublin to Study" -- by Dermot F. T. Engelfield

There were moments of peacefulness, a solitary figure brushing leaves in the College Park at Trinity or the gardens of University College, quietness set in the middle of the city's bustle. The tensions of life then were lowered as they should be in a university city, and having reached this new equilibrium, mind and feeling started to work. No one could truly reveal this personality of Dublin, important as it is when assessing it as a university centre, but I was soon to find there were more tangible riches to be found there.

Very little has been written about the most satisfactory urban setting for

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universities, but if some budding Ph.D. is at this moment discussing it with his tutor he might seriously consider making a start with Dublin. What first struck me was the almost ideal balance there was between City and Universities. Beyond academic walls the busy life of an industrial centre, a port, a capital with an active parliamentary government, all linked to the world through an international airport, dealt with the ever passing problems of balancing supply and demand-- the essence of practical living. It treated the universities with quiet approval, it seldom strayed through their gates. I was reminded how unbalanced in one way are Oxford and Cambridge, where the many university buildings predominate, or how unbalanced in the other way are Manchester or London where the university is an intellectual island set in a sea of commerce. But in Dublin, if at Trinity, one led a fully residential life, and even if living in hostels or rooms students were accepted as part of the life of the city without being allowed to push the citizens off the pavements. There were no self-conscious students' quarters; the whole city was there to enrich one's background. Let me turn then to the more practical advantages of Dublin a university city.

There were the theatres which enlivened the study of drama, especially that of the eighteenth century. The tradition of the 'little theatres' kept one abreast of modern movements in a way that only London could surpass in Britain. Musical life too was rich, above all for those who enjoyed choral music, and there were visiting groups, such as the Hamburg State Opera, whose performance of Mozart were, at the time, superior to anything heard in Britain since before the war. The resident symphony orchestra could be visited twice a week with the smallest of formalities, and there were a dozen or more first-rate chamber recitals and song recitals during the winter months. There was a National Gallery which was a very good introduction to the history of painting, being one of the best balanced of the smaller European collections and unusually strong in the Dutch and English schools. Public lectures by eminent speakers were promoted by the Royal Dublin Society and other bodies, and these were advertised in the Press and were open to the public. This cross-fertilisation was carried to a high degree. If one ideal for a university setting is to have a small society of students living in beneficial contact with a large urban society, then Dublin went a long way towards succeeding. Finally, though this does not apply to Dublin alone, for anyone from Britain to live outside England for a few years and to look at her from a bastion of independence was really quite an education in itself.

As a small capital with a relatively large number of students, Dublin offers a wholeness in its university life that few centres can rival.

(ii) Professor Stanford's Views

In the course of a eulogy of Trinity College which appears in the 'Trinity Handbook--1959' Senator Professor Stanford wrote the following:--

'No other ancient, residential university in Ireland or Great Britain lies in the heart of a sovereign metropolis, within a few minutes' walk of the parliament, the government departments, the courts of justice, and all the main nerve-centres of an independent state. Inside the walls of the College we have a precinct dedicated to learning and teaching; but even the most dedicated learner and even the most absorbed teacher must