This book explores the emergence of the modern higher education sector
in the independent Irish state. The author traces its origins from the
traditional universities, technical schools and teacher training
colleges at the start of the twentieth century, cataloguing its
development into the complex, multi-layered and diverse system of the
early twenty-first century. Focusing on the socio-political and cultural
contexts which shaped the evolution of higher education, the author
analyses the interplay between the state, academic institutions and
other key institutional actors - notably churches, cultural
organizations, employers, trade unions and supranational bodies. This
study explores policy, structural and institutional change in Irish
higher education, suggesting that the emergence of the modern higher
education system in Ireland was influenced by ideologies and trends
which owed much to a wider European and international context. The book
considers how the exercise of power at local, national and international
level impinged on the mission, purpose and values of higher education
and on the creation and expansion of a distinctive higher education
system. The author also explores a transformation in public and
political understandings of the role of higher education, charting the
gradual evolution from traditionalist conceptions of the academy as a
repository for cultural and religious value formation, to the
re-positioning of higher education as a vital factor in the knowledge
based economy. This comprehensive volume will appeal to students and
scholars of the Irish education system, educators and practitioners in
the field, and those interested in higher education in Ireland more
generally.
