30th May, 2011 - Delivering the Strategy for Higher Education. Address by Minister for Education and Skills, Mr Ruairí Quinn, T.D. Excerpts from the speech below- full text available at http://tinyurl.com/3nwr7wz
The Context; I want this morning to talk about the challenges ahead. As a member of government of a country in effective receivership, I am all too aware of the scale of the task of restoring Ireland’s economic and social well being. In the education sector, these challenges have to be faced against a demographic background of continuing growth in demand. The new challenges ahead are intense and they are global. Higher education will be the engine for the new ideas that will sustain and underpin enterprises of the future. One of the key features of the 21st century will be the universalisation of higher learning opportunities and it will be the quality of the various education and learning eco- systems that will ultimately determine the quality of national economic and civic life. The challenge for Irish higher education therefore, in a climate of constrained resources, is to address these simultaneous demands for greater quantity and greater quality.
Quality I welcome the priority given in the strategy to the topic of improving the Quality of the Student Experience. I particularly endorse the focus on providing a better first year experience with a stronger emphasis on general academic induction and preparation for future study and more opportunities to study across disciplines....The teaching environment in higher education should facilitate free discourse between student and teacher, stimulating the student to think critically; engage in higher order analysis; and learn to communicate and accommodate the views of others with tolerance. It is important that our students find their voice, engage fully in their own learning and clearly articulate their needs and opinion. An important element of this will be a full engagement of students with the development of feedback mechanisms at institutional and national level as they are implemented. I see a structural role here for the USI and the Students Unions in each institution.
Return on research investment
Our future research investment strategy will be grounded on maintaining a broad base of knowledge across all disciplines while at the same time selecting priority areas for concentrated strategic investment. The current national research prioritisation exercise will be important in giving direction on this. In sustaining that broad base of knowledge, I want to be clear about the expectation that all teaching staff will be research-informed or research- active and that all researchers will be active in teaching. Engagement Higher education draws its relevance and its importance from the strength of its connection to the needs of the society it serves. But those interactions don't just happen of their own accord - at least not on the levels needed. We need to think about creating the necessary structures, incentives and opportunities that can strengthen these interactions with enterprise and with communities - regionally and nationally. And we need to support our higher education institutions in their engagement endeavours internationally - where they can be a window to deepening Ireland’s strategic relationships in a changing world economy.
System Changes and Funding
We need to ensure that the form and structures of the architecture of the system are designed to enhance the true functions of institutions of higher learning rather than to inhibit. I will be giving further consideration over the coming months to some of the legislative issues that arise around institutional and system governance and funding - including for example the composition of governing bodies and the Higher Education Authority. ..We also need to ensure that we are extracting the full value and potential of all of the existing resources available to the sector - to 'do better with less'. And we must deliver on the reforms committed to under Croke Park, including contract reviews, as an important starting point.
A Diverse System Our entire higher education system is the same size as some of the larger American universities. The strategy sets out a number of objectives for the system which can only be met by significant structural reform, by consolidation and concentration and by closer collaboration and clustering.
...I welcome the readiness shown by the institutes of technology to actively engage in discussions leading to alliances and consolidation.
Accountability and Autonomy The State invests about 2 billion per annum in Irish higher education. We have a collective public duty to be able to demonstrate in a more transparent way what we are delivering for this investment and support. ...I have no hesitation in firmly endorsing the need for our institutions to enjoy strong levels of autonomy over their operations in order to deliver desired levels of innovation and responsiveness. However, this needs to be balanced with the requirements of public accountability for performance. The recommended process of strategic dialogue will be the principle mechanism for this, allied to a funding model that directly addresses institutional performance in specific key areas. ... The broader accountability requirements on institutions will need to extend to individual performance accountability. The development of workload allocation models, and wider Croke Park reforms, will provide important building blocks.
Concluding remarks Rather than limiting our ambitions by what we know others have done let us set out to create a higher education system that responds to Irish needs and that sets the tone and pace of higher education reform internationally.
As the 20th century Russian writer Kornei Chukovsky wrote - "The present belongs to the sober, the cautious, the routine-prone but the future belongs to those who do not rein in their imaginations" Staff Service Awards 2011
On Friday last, staff members with long service, 25 years and 40 years, were honoured at a ceremony in the Blackbox Theatre. Staff were presented with awards by Frank Carney, now retired from DkIT, but who was the first member of staff appointed at DkIT 40 years ago. At the same ceremony a Lifetime Service Award was made to Christy McAreavey.
Group Photo; Back Row left to right; Cathal Kearney, Bernie Brosnan, Noel Stapleton, Ann Leacy, Colman Ledwith, Brendan McQuillan, Pat McCaul. Tony McCarron, Eugene Roe, Frank O Brien (Governing Body Representative)
Front row, left to right; Frank Carney, Brendan Johnston, Christy McAreavey, Concepta Woods, Denis Cummins, Peter Carolan, Brid Moloney, Linda Graham.
Pictured above: Left to right; Brendan Johnston, Christy McAreavey, Concepta Woods and Peter Carolan. The Fís 11 exhibition, launched last night in the PJ Carroll Building on Dundalk Institute of Technology Main Campus, will showcase final year work from students of the BA (Hons) in Communications in Creative Media BA in Communications in Creative Multimedia BA (Hons) in Video and Film Production BA in Video and Film Production
The exhibition will also be open from today, Thursday 2nd June, from 12 midday to 9pm and on Friday 3rd June from 2pm to 7pm. This celebration marks the 10th year of Creative Media programmes at Dundalk Institute of Technology.
You can also look at blogs by the CMDkIT students that document their work for the exhibition:
BA (Hons) in Communications in Creative Media http://audiolise.wordpress.com http://kingjohnsproject.blogspot.com http://teamtimeghost.wordpress.com http://dmad2011.blogspot.com http://delatura1011.wordpress.com http://habitsdkit.wordpress.com
BA in Communications in Creative Multimedia http://the101agency.blogspot.com http://jungle010.blogspot.com http://metlowbell.wordpress.com http://megamundo123.wordpress.com http://osoreru-osoreru.blogspot.com http://replayforest.blogspot.com http://sensespinners2010.wordpress.com http://loopzdkit.blogspot.com http://obsurveillance.blogspot.com http://ecouniversedkit.blogspot.com Music and Multimedia Summer Camp Dundalk Institute of Technology June 27-July 1
An exciting and challenging opportunity to participate in an intensive five-day summer camp in the Dundalk Institute of Technology’s Carroll's Creative Media Centre is open to young people, aged 17+. The camp is a unique opportunity to learn basic skills, at NVQ level IV, in the latest equipment and technologies at the recently opened Centre.
Sample the latest technologies
Animation, digital media, audio technologies and editing are some of the key competencies that will be developed during the week. The Institute is opening the facilities to enable those with an interest in creative media and music technologies to increase their competencies while considering a pathway to degree and postgraduate degree courses at the Institute, or a pathway to employment in this rapidly expanding sector.
Pathway to Further Education or Employment The spacious, state-of-the-art facilities at the centre, located on the expansive campus offers young people an opportunity to sample studying at this prestigious third level Institute, which now offers a wide range of undergraduate, Masters and Ph.D. awards.
"We are delighted to offer this opportunity to young people in the Border Counties and Northern Ireland to sample the fantastic new facilities we have just opened on the campus. The creative industries will be a key element of the economic recovery, and we want to ensure that all young people have an opportunity to consider, at first hand, what the creative industries means in practical terms. We look forward to seeing great cross-section of participants in the studios during the summer camp." Denis Commins, President , Dundalk Institute of Technology
Places are limited, so those wishing to avail of this unique opportunity should contact the course organisers immediately.
Visit http://www.atlanticacademy.ie/summer-camp-2011/ for further details
Contact details;
Mark Larkin [email protected]
Tel (042) 9370 200 ext 2121 Would you like to up skill or widen your job prospects in the Creative Industries?
Limited Places Cost Available €150
Creative Media and Music Summer Camp June 27- July 1 Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) (Ages 17+) Achieve competencies in: Animation Digital Imaging Audio Editing
Programme Includes
Training in cutting edge technologies
Use state- of- the- art facilities in PJ Carroll Creative Centre
FREE 2 Gigabyte USB Key
Pathway to Further Education or Employment
Contact Mark Larkin, Atlantic Academy of the Arts, PJ Carroll Creative Centre, Dundalk Institute of Technology, Dundalk.
Phone: 042 9370 200 ext.2121 Email: [email protected] Web Site:http://www.atlanticacademy.ie/summer-camp-2011 DKIT's First Pop up Café in Aid of Cross-Cause www.crosscause.ie
will pop up on:
Date: 7th June 2011 from 10am to 1pm
Venue: Hospitality Corridor
Tea/Coffee and something Yummy!
All proceeds for use at a Romanian Orphanage in summer 2011 by local volunteers On the Other Hand
There are about 1 in 5 people that are left handed in Ireland. This is double the norm which is around 1 in 10. So if you’re in the minority everyday life can have its little irritations from writing letters to mowing the lawn. You may think that there is little difference in doing things Left or Right handed have a look around your home or office and try it out. You will soon see that many products are designed to work right handed.
For example try using an everyday item like a scissors left handed. Draw a circle on a piece of paper and try cutting it out. You will find that scissors does not sit in your hand comfortably and the blades bend the piece of paper between the blades making it hard to cut the paper. You will also be unable to see the line you are cutting as the top blade is blocking your view so that you are cutting inside the line. Also try using a tin opener or a cork screw and you will see how many other items are designed to work right handed and how the smallest job becomes a chore.
This August 13th Mullingar,which got its name from a left hand mill, are celebrating their 1400th anniversary by making Mullingar the Lft Handed Capital of the World. “On The Other Hand” a new Irish company specialising in Left handed products for young and old will be there to join in the celebrations. We believe that we have put together a great range of products that will satisfy the needs of Irish left handers and we hope to see you there.
My wife and I had the idea of starting “On The Other Hand” because our son is at that age when he is using his left hand one day and his right the next. So as there is a lot of left handers in our families we started to look for some information and products that he could use to suit his style. We found in our search that there was nowhere in Ireland where you could get a collection of left hand equipment.
We got some help from the Regional Development Centre in Dundalk Institute of Technology and the Dundalk Credit Union as part of their Student Innovation Fund which provides some seed capital or financial assistance to promising projects. It is available to students In DKIT, where I am studying for an Honours Degree in Business Studies as a mature student.
We believe that we have put together a great range of products that will satisfy the needs of Irish left handers. For more information about us and our products visit our site www.ontheotherhand.ie or our Facebook and Twitter feeds. The Fifth Element
Blu-Ray, Release June 6th 2011
Reviewed by Paul Scollon, Computer Services
When the laid-back 23d-century New York City (Bruce Willis) cabdriver meets the orange-haired, genetically engineered punk babe (Milla Jovovich) in "The Fifth Element," they cannot communicate directly because they don't speak the same language. But there is one shared phrase they understand: "Big badda-boom." Well, who doesn't grasp that concept?! You certainly will when you see this movie.
Released originally in 1997 and directed by french genius Luc Besson, whose movies "La Femme Nikita" and "Leon" hit a high-water mark for chic sensationalism, "The Fifth Element" is a big-budget French effort to play the Hollywood cartoon blockbuster game. It's also proof that Mr. Besson, whose big ambitions and technological expertise have made him one of France's highest-profile directors, is also his nation's worst nightmare. Obviously influenced by international comic book style, Besson pitched this gaudy epic at a teen- age audience who at the time that valued hot design over plot coherence, hollow excitement over reason. The story describes a mission to save humanity, but as far as the film itself is concerned, it's already gone.
The movie received mixed reviews at the time, but has against all odds gone on to be considered a cult classic and gained dedicated followers like myself, who will rush out and buy it on any format they care to release it. Milla Jovovich's character Leeloo can often be found at cosplay events worldwide (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLdUptL0Nrg for example) and the movie spurned a very successful platform video game in the late 90s.
Bruce Willis, a gratifying cool presence as usual, does give this madly fanciful film some much-needed balls. He brings grit to the role of Korben Dallas, reluctant blonde-haired action hero, who becomes embroiled in a plot that few sane viewers will even try to understand. ("It's 'Star Wars' on acid!" Gary Oldman, who plays Zorg, the film's cheesy villain, has said about the story in interviews)
Lulled out of his day to day routine into a spectacular rescue mission, Mr. Willis has been given a role he could by now play in his sleep. But he handles it with intensity and boundless energy instead. Here's a rough outline of the plot - spoilers are certainly coming up so skip to the last paragraph if you wish to avoid. It seems that in 1914, apparently during outtakes of a "Raiders of the Lost Ark" installment, evil aliens arrived in Egypt to fulfill a mission prophesied by ancient carvings. The aliens looked like hubcaps with tiny insect heads, and that was not even the worst thing about them. They invoked the threat of pure evil, and it has to be fended off 300 years later by a little stick of a thing, Leeloo. However, she is actually a supreme being who arrives on earth in the form of a naked former fashion model to save us all.
She is dressed for battle in the costumes of Jean-Paul Gaultier, who outdid himself in dreaming up strappy kinkwear for even the film's minor characters. She also has orange hair, but why is never explained!
Korben spends his working hours driving a space taxi through a three-dimensional New York. Elaborate but murky special effects give these scenes a geometric look, though the film's inventive design team has the chance to be more playful with smaller settings, like Korben's grungy cubicle of an apartment (some great scenes there). Anyway, once Korben and Leeloo join forces, the action heads off in wild directions.
Mr. Besson directs with ceaseless flamboyance but the tone of the movie is often terribly shrill, especially when attention shifts to grating minor characters. Be warned, this movie is for si-fi fans only, followers of Desperate Housewives and the like probably will not "get it".
Ian Holm (who most will remember as Bilbo in "Lord of The Rings"), who plays a priest with bemused vitality, shares Mr. Willis's way of injecting a touch of reality, but the rest of the cast strives for surreal degrees of silliness. As a yammering, swishy, transvestite talk show host, Chris Tucker is flat-out incomprehensible (but very amusing), while Mr. Oldman preens evilly enough to leave tooth marks on the scenery (however, he gets some of the best lines). Look out also for a cameo from Massive Attack's Tricky, who apparently can't act to save his life. Basically this is a fun movie, a "leave your brain at the door" movie as I call them (ever since I came out of the Adelphi cinema from Starship Troopers to overhear some clown say "that was sh*te, that would never happen!" to his friend). Do not expect “Moon" here, this is strict popcorn territory. On a cynical note, Milla Jovovich, as Leeloo, certainly demonstrates the merits of flame-coloured hair with blond roots. But she leaves serious doubts about whether models will ever save the world. Later films would prove this to be true. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of hers and loved the character - her attempt to speak perfect English are the funniest thing in the movie. look out for the "Leeloo Dallas mul-ti-pass" sequence.
"The Fifth Element" was first released on Blu-Ray in 2007, but was later recalled and replaced with a "remastered" version as the original transfer to high definition was considered grainy and not up to spec. However, this second release was not much better, and was met with outcry by Besson fans worldwide. Eventually, it too was discontinued. Now finally, on June 6th this year, the PROPER high definition will be released and this modern masterpiece will be "available to own for the first time" (!) the advertisements say. The transfer has been done using the same technique used to update the "Alien" blu-ray boxset, and anybody who has that little gem knows exactly what I'm talking about. We're looking at cinema quality people, through the looking glass, big badda-boom high definition.
Extras will include:
- Discovering The Fifth Element - Imagining The Fifth Element - The Art Of Jean-Claude Mezieres - An Audience With Diva Plavalaguna - Elements Of Style - Theatrical Trailer - Visual Effects Commentary - MTV Cannes Premiere I'm fully aware this is my first movie review in a long time, and who knows when I'll have time for another (part-time degree plus full-time job makes Jack a dull boy). However, the coming summer is full of blockbuster movies as you know, and Kenneth Branagh has thrown the gauntlet down with his excellent version of Marvel's "Thor". Other release thi summer will include "Captain America" and "X-Men: First Class" but here is my top 5 blockbuster movies to see at your local cinema before next term - consider it homework for the summer:
Super 8 (June 10, 2011)
In 1979, after the Air Force closes a section of Area 51, all materials are transported to a secure facility in Ohio. A train carrying some of the materials derails during an accident and something escapes from one of the cargo cars. A group of kids making movies with their Super 8 cameras accidentally capture what escapes on film. Directed by modern day legend J.J. Abrams (Cloverfield, Star Trek).
Green Lantern (June 17, 2011)
In a universe as vast as it is mysterious, a small but powerful force has existed for centuries. Protectors of peace and justice, they are called the Green Lantern Corps. A brotherhood of warriors sworn to keep intergalactic order, each Green Lantern wears a ring that grants him superpowers. But when a new enemy called Parallax threatens to destroy the balance of power in the Universe, their fate and the fate of Earth lie in the hands of their newest recruit, the first human ever selected: Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds).
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (July 15, 2011)
The end begins as Harry, Ron, and Hermione go back to Hogwarts to find and destroy Voldemort's final horcruxes, but when Voldemort finds out about their mission, the biggest battle begins and life as they know it will never be the same again. Even if you are not a Potter fan, this plans to be the best of the lot and pure popcorn magic.
Cowboys and Aliens (July 29, 2011)
Set in 1800s Arizona, a battle between cowboys and Apaches is interrupted by the crash landing of a space ship. The alien commander plans to tame the Old West and enslave everyone, but the cowboys and Native Americans turn their six-guns against the alien invaders. Stars Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (August 5, 2011)
Said to be a reboot of the "Planet of the Apes" franchise. Set in present day San Francisco, the movie deals with the aftermath of man's experiments with genetic engineering that lead to the development of intelligence in apes and the onset of a war for supremacy. James Franco will play a driven scientist who becomes a crucial figure in the war between humans and apes. From all at the DkITimes