University College Dublin and the future : a memorandum from a research group of Tuairim, Dublin branch, on the report of the Commission on Accommodation Needs of the constituent colleges of the National University of Ireland : with special reference to

16 U.C.D. and the Future

to the Commission's Report going to press, with St. Laurence's Hospital (c. 350 beds). Each of these hospitals is to have both a Professor of Medicine and a Professor of Surgery. Hence there will be approximately 800 beds and four associated professors on the north side of the city (some five miles from the Stillorgan site by way of the most dense traffic arteries in the city centre) and only 190 beds and their two associated professors on the south side. Even when the new Elm Park Hospital has been built there will be only 450 beds available in it (replacing St. Vincent's with its 190). With regard to this proposed hospital, the Department of Health has already officially indicated that it is not responsible for providing space for clinical teaching and has altered the proposed plans so as to reduce the space that could be devoted to this purpose. Consequently the Board of St. Vincent's Hospital declares that as the plans now stand (and remember that the foundations have been laid) 'the new hospital would be merely a larger edition of a County hospital.' (See Appendix VIII to Chapter I of the Report).

In this regard we consider that the plan to move U.C.D. to Stillorgan Road was unduly influenced by the prior decision to build a new hospital at Elm Park. In the ultimate conditions envisaged by the Report there will still be twice as many affiliated general teaching beds and associated teaching staff on the north side of the city as there will be on the south side. Consequently, only about one-third of the medical students would not be inconvenienced by the new arrangements, whilst about two-thirds would be put to considerably greater inconvenience in regard to their general hospital work.

It must be remembered that not all U.C.D. students take their clinical courses at the above-mentioned three hospitals. A further seven general hospitals are also recognised by the College and are listed in its calendar, viz:

The Meath The Adelaide Mercer's Sir Patrick Dun's Jervis Street Royal City of Dublin Dr. Steevens'

All of these are far nearer to Earlsfort Terrace than to the Stillorgan Road site.

Still further, the College Calendar lists eleven recognised specialist hospitals which students attend for parts of their course, and these hospitals are also nearer to Earlsfort Terrace than to Stillorgan Road.

Grangegorman Mental Hospital The Vergemount Fever Hospital, Clonskeagh The National Children's Hospital, Harcourt Street Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital The Coombe Lying-in Hospital The National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street The Rotunda Hospital The Fever Hospital, Clondalkin The Children's Hospital, Temple Street The Dental Hospital of Ireland (which all dental students must attend).

Problems in the Proposed Move 17

Despite what the Commission says, the inconvenience would obviously be very great. It is abundantly clear that there is a very strong case for retaining the Medical school in the city centre even if the Elm Park Hospital is completed and St. Vincent's closed to students.

It is worthy of mention that by far the largest single concentration of general hospital beds in Dublin lies in St. Kevin's Hospital (approx. 1,600 beds) in the south city. From time to time it has been suggested - and some medical professors in U.C.D. have supported the idea - that this vast hospital be affiliated to the College as a teaching unit. The fact that it has not been so affiliated would appear to be a major instance of what the Commission has called 'lack of co-ordination amongst the several authorities' involved, which is having such a bad effect on clinical teaching facilities. Many years ago a plan was prepared to utilise St. Kevin's as a post-graduate medical education centre, but that plan came to nothing. However, sooner or later we believe some agreement on having this hospital available for the teaching of students is bound to be reached, and it would be a great pity if by then the U.C.D. Medical school were inconveniently far away.

The Commission did not permit itself to discuss the problem raised by the existence in the city of three medical schools and four medical examining bodies (when the Apothecaries Hall is included), nor yet did they comment on the necessity or otherwise of having two further medical schools within the State at Cork and Galway. In all there are six medical schools in this island with its population of 4 1/2 millions and three of these are in Dublin with its population of little over half a million. Could no economies be effected, and medical education improved, by some form of amalgamation or at the very least coordination and sharing of facilities instead of the present wasteful multiplication?

In regard to the Royal College of Surgeons it is to be noted that a suggestion has been made that it would be an ideal centre for the post-graduate study of surgery and related branches of medicine.

C. THE COLLEGE AND THE COMMUNITY

It is generally accepted to-day that universities should serve the community in other ways than merely educating their whole-time students. The universities have a special obligation to disseminate as widely as possible their heritage of learning. Further, the public purse provides most of the income of U.C.D., and will provide the whole of the cost of the proposed extension, and hence the community is entitled to any services the College can provide which do not interfere with its primary function of educating its whole-time students. We deal with some of these services below.

Evening Degree Students

U.C.D. provides degree courses for evening students, and we believe that such students deserve every facility. If U.C.D. moves to the Stillorgan Road site, and provides its facilities for evening students there, then most of these students will have their already arduous day lengthened still further by the travelling involved.

The Report suggests that this difficulty has been foreseen, for it indicates (p.35) that Newman House, St. Stephen's Green, could be used for evening

18 U.C.D. and the Future

classes. This, however, would involve very obvious duplication. Evening students would have special space provided, where otherwise they would use space occupied (and heated) during the day. Further, such a scheme would deliberately make evening students second-class students. They would be removed all the time from the atmosphere of the university, deprived of proper library facilities, and would not have the opportunity of meeting other students and of participating in student activities without considerable difficulty. The Commission was at great pains to integrate all students with the main body of the College, and surely this should be done for evening students also as far as possible.

Adult Education The College authorities say (Report, p.5): 'There is need also for a great extension of the work it has been successfully doing in the field of adult education.' Here again, however, if the courses are run on the Stillorgan Road site, the inconvenience will greatly reduce their availability and popularity. If they are run in the city, this will again involve duplication of facilities and the removal of these students from contact with the atmosphere of the university.

Various British government reports on unversities have considered that extra-mural work of this kind is no mere appendage to the normal work of universities but is an integral part of it.

Other Special Courses The College provides courses leading to Diplomas in Education, Social Science, Library Training, Public Administration. The College also provides facilities for other students such as those of Radiography and Physiotherapy. From time to time it provides part-time courses and short, concentrated courses particularly at post-graduate level, e.g. atomic energy for graduate engineers. There is need for an expansion of such courses, particularly in technical subjects, and also they lead to more efficient utilisation of space and equipment as they take place during the evening and vacation periods. The institutes of technology provide many such courses at present, but the universities are better equipped and staffed for the purpose in a number of subjects.

In general, the running of such courses at the Stillorgan site would make attendance at them more difficult. Diploma courses, for example, involve work in other parts of the city.

Other Educational Facilities During the year many public and semi-public meetings and lectures are held in the College: College society inaugurals, talks by visiting lecturers, etc. Further the College provides facilities, such as lecture-rooms, to educational and cultural organisations, e.g. the Agricultural Association, the Military History Society, the Management Institute, the Institute of Chemistry, etc. During term scarcely a night passes without something of public interest taking place in the College. These facilities will be more inaccessible at Stillorgan Road.

Special Services The main function of the universities in the expansion of our economy is, of course, the training of graduates. But we believe that they will need to do

Problems in the Proposed Move 19

more - we have been producing a large excess of graduates in almost every faculty for many years past, and yet the problem of creating a virile economy still remains with us.

We believe that the universities may have to play a more direct part in the development of industry through departments which could undertake fundamental research related to its needs. The staff could assist in the solution of industrial problems and be available for advice. For this purpose the more centrally located U.C.D. is, the more accessible it will be and the better it will be able to assist.

There are many important types of scientific equipment not possessed by any institution in the country because of their cost, e.g. large electronic computers, mass spectrographs, etc. The list is growing every day and we are already far behind. There is need for a co-ordinated programme of purchase. It would be wasteful if each piece were at the disposal only of the institution for which it was purchased and worse, if several bodies were each to buy the same expensive apparatus. The more closely grouped such institutions are, the more effecively can such apparatus be used by all.

The same applies to technical journals. There are now many hundreds of these that scientists and technologists need to consult frequently in the course of their daily work. Many are not obtainable in Dublin at all, and the remainder are scattered through a dozen libraries in the city, with the main concentrations in the universities. The situation is already bad enough - must we make it worse by moving the U.C.D library to Stillorgan Road?

International Conferences It is desirable that international conferences and congresses be held in Dublin. They enhance the reputation of our institutions, and increase the standing of Dublin as a centre of learning. The Government has realised the potentialities of such congresses as an economic asset, and Bord Failte has been successful in promoting them. For such meetings U.C.D. is an obvious place, and the advantages of having it sited near the city centre, convenient to hotels and theatres, and in the middle of the cultural and educational complex are considerable.

Conclusions The obvious result is that, if U.C.D. moves to the Stillorgan Road site, large numbers of people will have to travel back and forward from the city every day, with a great waste of time and energy that could be put to better uses. It may be only some three miles further out than Earlsfort Terrace, but if thousands of people are to be forced to travel there and back daily, then the necessity for any extra distance must be proved incontrovertibly before the College is encouraged to move.

Another result is possible, however. People may not be prepared to make the journey, and may find the facilities they want in other institutions in the city. U.C.D. may thus become progressively more divorced from the community, and in failing to serve the country as it should, may become sterile and inwardlooking.

20 U.C.D. and the Future

The Report gives no indication that the Commission gave serious thought to any of the above considerations. This failure is a major defect.

D. THE COST OF U.C.D. EXPANSION

1. THE CAPITAL COST, INCLUDING COST OF EQUIPMENT

The total estimated cost of building the whole new College on Stillorgan Road is £6,700,000 (exclusive of the cost of purchasing the site and of its maintenance to date). This figure was arrived at by accepting the College's estimate of £5,812,000 calculated in 1952 and allowing for a 15% increase in building costs since then.

The original estimate includes a provision of only £123,000 for furniture and equipment. The Commission states (Report, p. 125) that the final estimate is exclusive of the cost of 'furniture and additional equipment.' Hence we must assume that the Commission regarded the original provision as negligible compared with the real cost. The sum estimated for 'furniture and equipment' in 1952 for Science (£30,000) was specifically stated to be 'exclusive of special scientific equipment,' but no such reservation was then made in the case of the other faculties. The sum then proposed in the case of the 'Engineering and Architecture' building was £10,000 which would hardly provide for the requirements of the architectural section alone.

Obviously in the case of the faculty of Engineering there is a need to prepare an estimate of the cost of the required equipment. It is highly improbable that the equipment at present in Merrion Street — the lathes and other workshop machines, the demonstration generators, motors, engines, etc. — will suffice. We believe that extensive re-equipment of the faculty will be necessary by the time the move takes place and that the cost will be very considerable. The total floor space at the disposal of the faculty is to be increased more than three-fold; and the faculty must be equipped for teaching and research in at least four major fields, viz. civil, mechanical, electrical and chemical engineering. At least £126,000 has been estimated for equipment for the new engineering department at the Institute of Technology in Bolton Street, which is concerned mainly with mechanical engineering.

The faculties of Science and Medicine will also need considerable further equipment if their greater floorspace is to be utilised adequately. It must further be remembered that the need, hitherto confined to science and technology, for equipment and apparatus is spreading to the Arts faculty, and that several expanding subjects will need specialised equipment not possessed before. Even in this faculty, and in the Library and Administrative Buildings, there is little point in estimating for the buildings if the furniture and equipment which are needed to enable the extended departments to function are not allowed for. It must be remembered that the total floor space to be furnished and equipped in the proposed new College is about three times the floor space at present in use.

All these considerations suggest that Mr. Aodhogan O'Rahilly may not be unreasonable in saying in his Minority Report (Report p. 48): 'The cost of the new University, if it is properly equipped, will be nearer to £10 million than £5 million.' For the purpose of the table which we give below, we have been

Problems in the Proposed Move 21

extremely conservative and have set the cost of equipment and furnishings at £1,000,000.

We urge that the College authorities be requested to prepare detailed estimates of the equipment requirements of all the faculties on the assumption that the complete set of new buildings is to be provided.

Whatever such detailed estimates would reveal, it is noted that the total capital cost of the Stillorgan Road project is to be offset by an allowance of approximately £1,500,000 for premises surrendered. It is intimated in the Commission's Report that the premises might be acquired for use as Government offices. A most important consideration arises out of this. In effect the Report recommends to the Government an expenditure of £5,200,000 on new university buildings and a further expenditure of £1,500,000, plus the cost of adaptation, on the acquisition of additional Government offices. The Commission state (Report, p. 37):

'The Commissioners of Public Works have informed the Commission that both the College of Science and the Earlsfort Terrace buildings are suitable generally for purposes of Government departments, but in each case extensive alterations would be needed; and at this stage the Commissioners were not in a position to hazard a guess what the cost of these alterations might be.'

We will be a little bolder and hazard a guess. Information is provided by the Commission in relation to the conversion to new uses of existing buildings at Galway. They write (Report, p. 120):

It is commonly recognised that estimation of the cost of adapting old buildings is difficult and that actual cost may prove as high as the cost of providing an equal amount of accommodation in new buildings. For this reason we are of the opinion that the rate of £3.10s. (per sq. ft.) now estimated is as good as can now be furnished.'

If U.C.D. moves out of town the floor area to be surrendered to the Government, for a consideration of £1,500,000 is approximately 150,000 sq. ft. nett in sound buildings. This approximates to 200,000 sq. ft. gross. At £3.10s. per sq. ft. the cost of conversion would therefore be £700,000. Of course it may be said that the unit cost of converting Earlsfort Terrace to Government use would be very much lower than this estimate — but conversely the unit cost of converting the Science Buildings would certainly be very much more.

The total sum therefore that the Government is prepared to spend on acquiring new premises is approximately £2,200,000. This makes no provision for the furnishing and equipment of such new Government premises and it takes no account of the future fate of the unsound buildings at Earlsfort Terrace, which will have to be adapted, or demolished and replaced.

It is clear that the capital expenditure involved in acquiring, adapting and furnishing for Government use the premises vacated by the College is well in excess of £2,000,000. We hold that, given the decision to spend even £2,000,000 on new Government premises, it can be decided to move some Government departments from their present offices to new blocks, elsewhere, thus releasing property of inestimable value to the College. Then, given about

22 U.C.D. and the Future

£5,000,000, cannot the College solve its accommodation problems by expansion from its existing buildings? We urge that the total cost of the various complex operations, including the reshuffle of College and Government property and the various alternatives, should each be calculated in full.

Total Cost of Current Proposals in Dublin

Those most in favour of the Stillorgan Road scheme claim that the sum involved is only £5,200,000. However, the proposals of the Commission should be viewed in the context of the total capital expenditure involved in all the proposals (and their consequences) now being considered in Dublin, if all proceed independently as at present projected.

£ New buildings for U.C.D. at Stillorgan Road site ... 6,700,000 Furniture and equipment for same ... at least 1,000,000 Buildings at Kevin Street and Bolton Street ... 1,350,000 Furniture and equipment for same ... say 700,000 Total £11,936,000

Faculty of Agriculture, U.C.D. ... ? Faculties of Veterinary Medicine, U.C.D. & T.C.D. ... ? Provision for T.C.D.'s other accommodation needs ... ? Provision for new University Church for U.C.D. ... ? Provision for student hostels at new site ... ? ?????

Of course, not all of these monies would have to be provided directly by way of parliamentary grants, but all of them would have to come from the pockets of the community.

2. PROVISION FOR STAFF INCREASE

A College on the proposed scale, whether it be built at Stillorgan Road or elsewhere, provides a level of accommodation for staff and students of the standard required by a modern university. It is well to realise just what is implied in this raising of U.C.D. to such a standard.

The memorandum from the Science departments states (p.2 of Appendix VI F, to Chapter I of the Report) that what is being planned for is 'staff on the levels normally provided in British universities' and the Commission in its final chapter (p.128), says that 'Our standards in this age must be international.' This implies first and foremost a great increase in teaching and technical staff.

Problems in the Proposed Move 23

It implies that the ratio of full-time teaching staff to full-time students be improved to something approaching the level in operation elsewhere. In British universities in 1956-57 the ratio stood at 1:7.2 students (a few years earlier it was better at 1:7) and the British University Grants Committee are not yet satisfied with the position. The ratio in U.C.D. was 1:19 students for the year 1952-53 and 1:20 for 1953-54 (the most recent years for which figures have been published).

Taking a more conservative view than that reigning in Britian the target might be set at a ratio of 1:8. This is approximately the ratio advocated in the memorandum of the Engineering faculty on its requirements (Appendix VI E to Chapter I of the Report). This means that in the new College the number of full-time teaching staff is to be increased by a factor of 2.4 from the 1953 figure of 157 staff for 3,046 students to a figure of 380 for the same student body (or to 625 for 5,000 students).

3. INCREASED RUNNING COSTS

Having regard to the total of new buildings contemplated and the increase in staff, an effort may be made to calculate the probable annual running costs of the new College.

To do this, one can take the published expenditure accounts for a recent year and multiply each item by a factor thought to be appropriate to the new situation. This has been done in a table set out below to which a series of notes on the various items is appended.

Comparative Table of Present and Estimated Future Annual Expenses

24 U.C.D. and the Future

Notes (i) Figures in column B are taken from the accounts of U.C.D. (excluding the faculty of General Agriculture) for the year ending 30th June, 1956, as published by the Government Publications Office.

(ii) With regard to item No. 2 above, departmental salaries, the figure given includes salaries of professors and lecturers (£109,455) and those of assistants and demonstrators (£88,092). Difficulty was experienced in trying to assess what factor should be used to give an approximation for the salaries of the teaching staff after expansion, as neither in the statistics published from the Central Statistics Office, nor in the Annual Reports of the President, are the salaries of professors quoted independently of the salaries of lecturers, nor do we know what proportion of the total sum goes to full-time and what to part-time teachers. In order to achieve the total number of full-time teaching staff (c.380) needed, the overall factor for number would be 2.4 (based on staff and student numbers in 1952-53). However the expansion in the number of professors would need to be of the order of say 10% only, while the expansion in the numbers of lecturers would be of the order of 240% and in assistants and demonstrators at least 300%. Some of us hold that it is in the case of the full-time lecturers that the greatest % increase would be required, the increase for assistants and demonstrators being correspondingly reduced. Without knowing the average 1956 salary of each group it is impossible to arrive at a correct overall factor for estimated increase due to salaries. The factor of 2 used in the table is probably conservative. In Britain the salaries and superannuation of teaching staff now run at 45% of the total annual recurrent expenditure of the universities.

(iii) Item three above, departmental wages, has been multiplied by a factor of 3 which again is probably conservative. The wages under the heading are paid largely to technicians and typists and the ratio of these increasingly important workers to teaching staff in U.C.D. and in other universities here, and abroad until recently, is too low to enable the academic staff to work to their capacity. In technical research departments, it has been shown that it is necessary to employ at least two skilled technicians to each graduate member of staff in order that the graduate member may fully employ his talents. A similar situation exists in the humanities where a shortage of typists, indexing, abstracting, and library assistants decreases enormously the efficient operation of academic staff. To allow a factor of 3 for this body of staff, where the factor for academic staff is 2.4, is again conservative.

(iv) Item 4, departmental materials, largely those used in teaching and research in the medical and technological departments. Here again the factor 3 is probably conservative. The proposed expansion will allow students to work in much small groups than at present and hence the amount of materials used in practical classes will be increased. Further, the purchase of apparatus for student use will increase several-fold. The amount of research done in these subjects should likewise increase enormously with the increase in teaching and technical staffs — for example in Engineering the Commission's Report points out that research has been hitherto virtually non-existent due to lack of space and of staff.

Problems in the Proposed Move 25

(v) The factor for library expansion (item 5) allows for an increase of only 20%. It is hope that the centralisation of library facilities might reduce the need for an immediate increase in staff under this heading. The increasing importance of books and journals in all branches of learning, together with constantly increasing costs, make the suggested increase very conservative.

(vi) The items summarised under No. 12 above include in the figures for the year 1955-56, £5,286 in salaries and wages for upkeep of the athletic grounds at Belfield. Doubtless the upkeep of Iveagh Gardens is included in item No. 6. It is impossible to estimate at present what sum would be required for the upkeep of the whole of the College estate at Stillorgan Road (252 acres). The Architectural Advisory Board envisages large-scale landscaping of the site, tree-planting, etc., as well as the provision of extra playing fields, and swimming pools. Any provision for upkeep under this heading is further complicated by the fact that no informaton is available as to whether or not halls of residence will in fact be built on the estate, and whether or not the upkeep of their grounds would be a charge on the College.

An important consideration under this heading and that of Item No. 6 is the fact that the cleaning and maintenance of all roadways, car parks, foot-paths, and their lighting after dark, on the College campus would be a charge on the College if it is built on its own private grounds, whereas expansion in the city makes use of the public roadways and other amenities.

Taking all in all, it will be seen that once again a factor of 3 may be so conservative as to be misleading in the case of Item No. 12 as may be the factor 2 in the case of Item No. 6.

(vii) No account is taken in the above estimates of any expenses in connection with the faculties of General Agriculture or of Veterinary Medicine. The Commission is anxious to see the Agricultural students of the 3rd and 4th years reunited with the general student body on the same campus. However, the whole future of the relationship between the College and the faculty of Agriculture, and the question of the provision for it of a new 600 acre farm, is so undecided as to make futile any guess as to future expenses to be borne by the College in this regard.

(viii) All the calculations are based on the year 1955-56. There have been in the interval substantial increases in salaries and other expenses, and doubtless by the time a new College could be completed (up to 12 or more years hence) the running costs of the present College would have increased still further. Hence the annual expenditure of £1,000,000 represents the very lowest estimate that would apply if salaries and commodity prices remained fixed at the 1956 levels.

(ix) The above calculations are based on a full-time student body of 3,046 (the 1953-54 level). The College envisaged by the Commission would serve approximately 5,000 full-time students and consequently certain items in the above would appreciably increase.