Student’s Union Education Officer Hugh Sullivan appeared to criticise College restructuring initiatives this week in the Student Academic Diary that is handed out to every Trinity student.
Student’s Union Education Officer Hugh Sullivan appeared to criticise College restructuring initiatives this week in the Student Academic Diary that is handed out to every Trinity student. Mr Sullivan said he did not mean it is a criticism rather a statement that new restructuring may be confusing. Other sources within College have agreed with his viewpoint. The College has undergone a serious restructuring initiative in the past few years both financially and administratively. After a long period of resistance, all of the individual schools have received their own budgets and the heads of schools are now the budget holders. This was followed by the creation of three new faculties: the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the Faculty of Engineering, Maths and Sciences and the Faculty of Health Sciences. The three deans of the new faculties have greater power than previously. One source within College says this will probably cause some contention over budget control between the heads of schools and the deans.
Finally, the most recent change was the appointment of Chief Academic Officer (Vice Provost) and Chief Operating Officer. One source within college has described this as “a huge culture shock” as previously there were only “vague lines of reporting”. The positions were intended as an effort by Trinity’s administration to increase efficiency and streamline the College’s bureaucracy but Hugh Sullivan wrote on p193 of the academic diary “Look forward to a year where the water might get a bit muddy as to who reports to whom and who has responsibility for what; while everyone gets used to the new academic structures.”
Although these offices were created to update the internal structures of College, and in fact to make it clearer who should report to whom within College, the SU’s confusing stance makes an administration which is entirely unintelligible for the average student seem even more perplexing and disorganised. Despite placing the quote in the 08/09 Academic Diary given to each of the over 15,000 students who registered, Hugh Sullivan, SU Education Officer, said he did not realise that it sounded confusing. He assured Trinity News that the uncertainties he predicted would not have any direct consequences for students of the University. “It shouldn’t affect students’ day to day lives. It’s more to do with the management of college and there’ll be a period of people/committees finding their feet as new committee structures etc. get established and worked out.”
