MSU President Aengus O Maolain and VP Comms and Dev Rob Munnelly took a little tour of the new building flying up by John Hume today. We were seriously impressed. [View with PicLens] 12►

Predicting a recession-induced surge in the number of grant applications next year, the Union of Students in Ireland has urged students nationwide to apply as early as possible to avoid last year’s ”meltdown”. In the press release, the Union said that “The current recession will result in a huge hike in the number of people seeking to return to college, including mature students and graduates wishing to up skill. This will put added pressure on the students grant system.” You can download grant forms from studentfinance.ie NUIM voted overwhelmingly to join the Union of Students in Ireland last February. Image from homepage:

Maynooth’s Literary and Debating Society has embraced Wikipedia, with its first incarnation appearing just hours ago. However, there is some speculation on boards.ie and Facebook as to just how seriously the article’s editor takes the subject. It seems to be entirely about communism and anarchy. Some quotes: The society was incorporated into the college as the Glorious People’s Revolutionary Proletariat’s College Literary and Scientific Society in 1852, under the patronage of Aidan Rowe, Professor of Anarchy, Anarchic Literature and Anarchic Science. By 1860, under the auditorship of Aidan Rowe, the society had achieved significant prestige among the anarchic classes of the city, who attended its meetings in large numbers, and its activities were reported in great detail by the local alternative media. The 1860-1870 period was the most successful decade of the early society, with figures such as Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe, Aidan Rowe and Aidan Rowe occupying the liberal-capitalist government’s offices in protest at the dictatorship of the markets before being ejected by a Garda. The article’s headings include Foundation, Incorporation into the Glorious People’s Revolutionary Proletariat’s College and Early Development, Independence and Civil War, The Free State Era, and World Records. And entire section is dedicated to the ”Karl Marx Memorial Medal”. It has been proposed that the article be deleted for ”containing too much factual information”. Image from the site:

Between January and December last year, Irish Universities spent a collective 4.3 million on flights for staff and visiting academics, according to figures obtained under the Freedom of Information act. Top spender UCC, spending €1.28m on flights. UCD was second with €995,000, Trinity with €848,000, NUI Galway with 550,000, DCU with €504,000 and University of Limerick with €161,000. Flying ‘Business Class’ is believed to be behind the excessive cost. It is not known how much NUIM has spent on flights in that year.

Not a month following the end of the Junior and Leaving Certificate exams the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union has insisted that the Department of Education should take heed of recommendations to reform the junior cycle. This time last year, then Education Minister Batt O’ Keefe asked the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) to find a way to reduce the workload placed on junior cycle students. To this end, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) is taking submissions on changes to how younger students are tested in various subjects. Also getting requests from the ISSU is minister, Tánaiste Mary Coughlan, to siginificantly reform the senior cycle, saying, “It seems that now more than ever a complete revamp of the whole examination system is needed. To perform at your optimum ability for 300 minutes so as to be examined on two years of work is unrealistic, unfair and stressful.” Further Information: The ISSU website