Student Perspectives on How Higher Education in Ireland Can Help Meet the Needs of the Irish Economy

Authors

Ann Conway, Technological University DublinFollow
Noelle O'Connor, Limerick Institute of TechnologyFollow

Document Type

Conference Paper

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

5.3 EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES

Publication Details

Conway, A. and O'Connor, Dr. N. (2011) Student Perspectives on how Higher Education in Ireland can Help Meet the Needs of the Irish Economy. Paper presented at the INTED2011 Conference, Valencia, Spain, March 7th-9th, 2011.

ISBN: 978-84-614-7423-3.

Depósito Legal: V-626-2011.

Published by
International Association of Technology, Education and Development (IATED)
Web: www.iated.org

Edited by
L. Gómez Chova, I. Candel Torres, A. López Martínez
International Association of Technology, Education and Development
IATED, Valencia

Abstract

This paper will be in three parts; the first section will examine the current tertiary education situation in Ireland amid the global economic crisis and will review what higher education’s contribution be to help alleviate the crisis. Building stronger links with the academy and the economy to help raise skills, efficiency and productivity is becoming more important in ensuring global competitiveness and retaining equality and accessibility in the academy (see Gaffikin and Morrissey, 2003: 98 [14]). The second section will look at the merge of entrepreneurship and education. As the lifelong learning society is conceptualised largely in terms of maintaining a flexible and competitive economy in the knowledge society, the concept of an entrepreneurial society will be proposed to fill the gap which has emerged since the exit of many international companies for cheaper labour elsewhere. Within all levels of education entrepreneurship should be encouraged and embedded in the curricula from the earliest stages as a prevention rather than cure to the current economic crisis in Ireland. The final section will illustrate a brief analysis of students’ perspectives on how higher education can help meet the ever-changing needs of the Irish economy.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/D7CN1J

Recommended Citation

Conway, A. and O'Connor, Dr. N. (2011) Student Perspectives on how Higher Education in Ireland can Help Meet the Needs of the Irish Economy. Paper presented at the INTED2011 Conference, Valencia, Spain, March 7th-9th, 2011. DOI: 10.21427/D7CN1J ISBN: 978-84-614-7423-3.