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This paper investigates the perception amongst insiders of the degree of innovativeness of organisational culture in Ireland's higher education institutions. While the role of higher education institutions has expanded to include being a driver of innovation, we suggest that any such body is perhaps best suited to achieve this if it itself is innovative. We review the literature on corporate innovation, discuss a recent metric of innovativeness in culture and present the results of a large-scale survey on said culture within the higher education sector in Ireland. There is a divide between the university and institutes of technology sector, with organisational culture in universities being perceived to be much more innovative than that in institutes, despite these latter being designed to be closer to industry. We also find that STEM faculty members see culture as less innovative than others. These findings raise questions around the implicit and explicit thrusts of Irish higher education policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In keeping with practices elsewhere in Europe, Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) in Ireland have in recent decades adopted access policies for non-traditional students (not recent school leavers). This paper assesses a particular initiative to facilitate access to HEIs to non-traditional students. However, due to the initiative's origins as a non-accredited certificate for asylum seekers and refugees, specific attention will be paid to the immigrant community. This paper assesses the details of a new programme in Irish politics and political leadership for non-traditional students in Ireland. It will present the curriculum and document the teaching strategies that were selected while exploring the role for universities and political science departments, in particular in facilitating integration. Student-centred learning provides the overarching framework for the curriculum. Three teaching approaches - KWL, service learning, and enquiry- or problem-based learning - have been selected as the pedagogical underpinnings of this Certificate programme. The paper explores all three approaches and provides examples of how these will be employed. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of how the programme could be adapted in other jurisdictions and its uses in integrating citizens from new communities across European democracies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strategic planning has become an integral part of the management of higher education institutions worldwide. The experiences of all but one of the Republic of Ireland's 21 universities and institutes of technology with strategic planning are explored from 2000 to 2010. At the starting point in 2000, only two institutions had a documented strategic plan. Ten years later, all had undergone one or more iterations of strategic planning. Qualitative research methods were used including document analysis of n=42 strategic plans, n=12 institutional review reports and n=26 interviews with senior managers with responsibility for strategic planning. The paper considers whether the strategic planning models used in the past decade will be able to meet the challenges presented by unprecedented economic circumstances and the new national strategy for higher education in Ireland. Significant deficits are identified with respect to strategic planning for institutional diversity, performance-related funding and external stakeholder engagement. Fundamental questions are raised in relation to the approaches taken to strategy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]