SPECIAL FEATURE | Creating Opportunity Out of Change


(Photo captioned: Professor Patrick Prendergast, Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer)

Trinity Today interviews the University’s Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Offi cer, Professor Patrick Prendergast B.A.I., Ph.D., F.T.C.D (1987) as he puts the fi nishing touches to the College’s new fi ve-year Strategic Plan. This planning process involved both a deep and wide consultation with staff, students and alumni.


What is the one overriding consideration that has dominated your thinking when crafting the Strategic Plan?

As globalization continues, a small number of universities around the world will emerge with international reach and infl uence: Europe may have around 10 of these. I believe that it is Trinity’s heritage and destiny to confi rm our position among these elite institutions.

But to reach this goal we must be strong in our key domains: delivering excellent education and by being recognised for research, and promoting innovation, while providing a nurturing and yet challenging student experience that is linked with a direct engagement with society.


How has the current economic climate affected your thinking in preparing the Plan?

TCD’s Strategic Plan aims to lay new foundations for our future development. The current economic fl ux, rather than hindering the plan’s drafting process, has actually helped focus minds on the importance of further improving our higher education system and has forced us to further articulate our relevance and vital role in society.

The global downturn affects everyone; it also highlights the importance of education, and higher education in particular, as a key enabler of a successful society. This is how I see Trinity helping Ireland respond to the global downturn: by taking full advantage of the opportunities made possible by our excellent research, teaching and innovation. When the economic recovery dawns, this will be the defi ning factor of the truly “great” universities. As Peter Sutherland rightly says in his interview (see page 17) we cannot afford to let-up in the push to improve the quality of our teaching and research. We must sustain and further invest if Ireland is to have an education that is globally recognised as excellent.


Is Trinity for Ireland or the world?

A Trinity education must be seen in an international context because our undergraduates, postgraduates and alumni are citizens of the world and compete and contribute on the global stage. It is vital that we take our reference points from the best in the world. For example, if our country is serious about sustaining an export-driven economic model, our universities must rise to the challenge of providing our graduates with the skills to support this.


How complex has the strategic planning exercise been?

Our Strategic Plan will help Trinity chart our course for the next fi ve years, but in reality the basic formula to create a high quality university is relatively simple. In essence, we need to continue to recruit top-class academics into a well-resourced and vibrant university community, and we need to continue to attract the best students who will learn from and indeed challenge these academics. Leading universities are places where people want to work and learn – where there is a ‘love of learning’. We want Trinity to be an environment that is properly resourced so both scholar and student will succeed and society will benefi t as a result.


What are your metrics for success – is it all about research and teaching?

Success in research and teaching is crucial, but academic success isn’t the only goal for a College that wants to be an active, engaged and responsible participant in society. Issues such as increasing equality of access and engaging fully in public discourse are also as important.

I agree with Dr Austin O’Carroll in his interview (see page 19) that inequality exists in many sectors of our society, and that we must do all we can to remove it. It is important fi rst to recognize that universities historically perhaps could have done more to address social inequity. This is a point that Cathal Reilly (see page 20) also brings up. However, we in Trinity and indeed the other universities in Ireland are, and have been for many years now, making direct efforts to address this. We now have direct access programmes (Continued on page 25...)


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