UCD massive admin costs

Steve.Pseudonym

Hey guys, I may be in with this a tad late, but I just had a look at this weeks observer and discovered to my abject horror that the administration costs of UCD in the year 07/08 are 86 million euro. That figure is 8 million more than the combined budgets of the college of human sciences, the college of business and law and the college of arts and celtic studies. I find it stunning that UCD's admin costs are higher than three of it's colleges put together, yet in the observer they don't seem to bat an eyelid, they just turn the finger of blame in the direction of the government with a quote from Barry Colfer saying that UCD should get more funding.

Here's my question: Isn't this sickening? I know my experience with UCD admin has always been extremely painful, they seem adept at passing the blame between offices and messing up, so I'd say it's money badly spent. Surely UCD would benefit from sorting out it's outlandishly expensive bureaucracy and putting that money into the colleges where it belongs.

ozt9vdujny3srf

You seem to forget that the observer is an absolute rag. Most of what it prints is 50/50 in terms of accuracy.

Stepherunie

I'd actually go with less than that.

I read an article at the start of the year and happened to know the full story.

I think I counted 12 - 15 fatal flaws in the piece.

Heresay seems to be the observers idea of good journalistic research.

PennyLane

I thought I saw another figure floating around the boards somewhere, putting the debt for this year at somewhere around 13 mil. While significantly smaller, it is still a bit ****. But then again, if the administration was efficient they'd spend less money by definition, wouldn't they?

Red Alert

Stepherunie wrote: »

I'd actually go with less than that.

I read an article at the start of the year and happened to know the full story.

I think I counted 12 - 15 fatal flaws in the piece.

Heresay seems to be the observers idea of good journalistic research.

Let's have the story then - 6 million to do a bad job at administering the university is breathtaking.

Ernie Ball

I'd look for the documents they based the piece on to surface. Whatever about the Observer's record for accuracy: that's the kind of headline that could get the attention of the national media.

Mind, the national media have been giving Brady soft caresses since he got in.

Part of the real scandal is how much the administration has paid for useless consultants from the Washington Advisory Group (whose sole purpose--known in advance--was to give its imprimatur to everything Brady wanted to do) to the Mercator group (for a survey of staff and students the report for which basically minimised the profound discontent). Many of these consultancies' sole purpose is public relations: burnishing the image of the Dear Leader as a forward-looking, synergistic, Man of the Future. Fact is, his form of university administration (authoritarian, bureaucratic, top-down, based on the assumption that staff are not self-motivated but need to have the whip cracked) wouldn't be out of place in a 1950s sweatshop but is utterly unsuitable to any university, especially in the 21st Century. Every big company worth anything has figured out the virtues of devolved autonomy and decentralisation, but our Hughie knows better: Henry Ford had it right!

Can we get rid of this guy yet?

daboyfergie

Don't you know hard HR is the new approach favoured by big business in employee relations,this is a unitarist style that encourages an autocratic, the company is always right style of management. Hugh Brady's diktats are couched in positive sounding new speak language that disguises their real purpose. Since UCD is being ran like a big business, why would Dr Hugh Brady adopt any other style of management? I find it unusual that there is no great love of academia, here in UCD.

Ernie Ball

Ernie Ball wrote: »

I'd look for the documents they based the piece on to surface. Whatever about the Observer's record for accuracy: that's the kind of headline that could get the attention of the national media.

I should have added that blowing a wad of taxpayer money could conceivably get the attention of the media and the public. Destroying a venerable educational institution? Not a peep.

Which is a way of saying: Brady is a product of Celtic Tiger Ireland where only one thing matters. The fact that he's spent more of his time as President as a property developer (selling this bit and that, planning to build this other bit and that) than doing anything to improve research or teaching or infrastructure or student life, tells you all you need to know.

Ernie Ball

Wonder why the administration has a €15 million deficit this year? Don't listen to anyone who tells you that this is "sectoral" (i.e., all universities have these problems). This is mismanagement, pure and simple.

If this were the 1960s, students would be rioting in the streets over this. Basically, your university is being stolen right out from under you. But apparently you and the union are too busy with balls and parties to raise much of a fuss.

Here's a document that should open your eyes:

Steve.Pseudonym

Nearly 4.5 million euro on consultants in 2006 alone, that's alot.

Is there any level of transperency over UCD's funding? The budget of a public institution should fall within the public domain, yet aside from the above pdf file I've not come across any figures, online at least. I looked at information concerning the freedom of information act, but as far as I could tell it only covers private data held about an individual. I assume UCD must publish it's figures somewhere, so where can they be found?

Ernie Ball

Steve.Pseudonym wrote: »

Nearly 4.5 million euro on consultants in 2006 alone, that's alot.

Is there any level of transperency over UCD's funding? The budget of a public institution should fall within the public domain, yet aside from the above pdf file I've not come across any figures, online at least. I looked at information concerning the freedom of information act, but as far as I could tell it only covers private data held about an individual. I assume UCD must publish it's figures somewhere, so where can they be found?

The budget data is extremely tightly held. The head of the UCD academic staff association had to go make an FOI request to get the information for that PDF.

But it isn't true that the FOIA only covers private data about individuals. Any member of the public can put in a request for information about the institution. It costs something like €15 plus photocopying costs and there are certain grounds on which they can refuse to provide data.