News
Repeat fees hike to boost NUIG coffers by €200,000
The cost to students of NUI Galway who fail exams and have to repeat has increased by more than 50% this year.
Students repeating examinations this summer were hit with a €100 increase in repeat exams’ fees – the new rate is €295.
NUIG hopes to raise €200,000 from the measure.
The fees hike was fiercely resisted by student leaders but was agreed following a vote by Údarás na hOllscoile, the university’s governing authority, which is responsible for managing and controlling all affairs of NUIG.
The issue of increasing fees on repeat exams was divisive, and split the Governing Body.
According to minutes of the Governing Body’s December meeting, “strong views” were put forward for and against the fees increase.
“Exchanges were heated at times and the discussion often circulatory as both sides of the argument were explored,” the minutes record.
The minutes were released to the Galway City Tribune under Freedom of Information (FOI).
The President of the Students Union, who was then Phelim Kelly, was supported by some members when he said the “proposed increase in repeat examination fees was simply a revenue raising measure to take advantage of the misfortune of students”.
The university Bursar pointed out the projected income from repeat exams was about €200,000, which was “3% of the €7 million loss of income which the university was endeavouring to manage”.
Some members at the meeting said repeat exams “imposed a high administrative burden” on NUIG, and they “questioned whether the fees were high enough to incentivise examination pass rates.”
Cathaoirleach of the Governing Body, Catherine McGuinness, according to the minutes, said NUIG failure rates were “too high”, which was “due in part at least to some students not applying themselves to their study”.
Two members were “outraged” by this comment and repeated the view that the fee increase was “opportunistic and insensitive”.
The meeting was told that if the increase was not passed, they would have to find €200,000 “via other cuts”.
There was a “strong statement” from the An Meabhránaí (registrar) and Uachtarán Ionaid (deputy president), who said the university, “was not profiteering from students and that some students were strategically defaulting on their fees”.
A proposal was put to the meeting that the proposed fees increase be rejected. Ten members voted in favour and 17 voted against.
A subsequent motion to increase the fee by €100, bringing it to €295 was then passed. The motion included ‘free remission’ measures in the order of €100-€200 for disadvantaged students. Some 20 approved the motion and six voted against.
However, that was not the end of the matter and it was raised again at the following February meeting.
The SU President claimed the December minutes “omitted to make full reference to remarks made by An Cathaoirleach in relation to high examination failure rates”.
The secretary said the minutes captured the views expressed and that minutes were not supposed to be stenographic.
Mr Kelly said that he found the chairperson’s comments at the previous meeting, in relation to student failure rates, to be “personally distressing” and it was “not appropriate” for a chairperson to make those remarks.
The minutes were then altered to show: “One of the members who expressed outrage at the comment was of the view that the comment should not have been expressed”.
Under matters arising from the minutes, Mr Kelly referred to a letter he had received from the university Bursar relating to fees. The letter was “cold and stark”, he said.
“He stated he was being put in an invidious position with his membership,” the minutes state of student voice, Mr Kelly.
NUIG President, Jim Browne said he understood his point of view but the matter “had been decided and was therefore closed”.
Following a discussion, Mr Browne offered to meet with the Student Union Council to “appraise members” of the decision to increase repeat fees.
At a subsequent strategic planning committee meeting, Mr Kelly said it was “insulting” for him that he could not raise the issue of repeat fees on the Governing Body agenda.
He said students were “deeply unhappy with the increase in fees” and the Students Union would return to the issue after the Summer repeats are finished.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
