Allister Hits Out at Anti-Unionist Higher Education Strategy - While DUP are Absent
02 May 2012
Statement by TUV leader and North Antrim MLA Jim Allister:
“Today the Employment and Learning Committee at Stormont was briefed on the Higher Education Strategy – a document which will set the direction of our universities for years to come. It is therefore both surprising and deeply disappointing that none of the DUP’s four members on the committee bothered to be present and challenge departmental officials about the document’s anti-Unionist bias.
“When the briefing did commence, committee chairman Basil McCrea was the only Unionist apart from myself who was present.
“I took the opportunity to highlight the fact that nowhere in the strategy is the dreadful underrepresentation of the Protestant community so much as mentioned. This is completely unacceptable given the data which I unearthed last year highlighting the problem. There is evidently a particular problem when it comes to the Jordanstown and Magee campuses of the University of Ulster. At Jordanstown there are just 3,850 Protestant students compared with 6,640 Roman Catholics while at Magee Protestants make up less than 1/5 of the student population.
“Additionally, while the Strategy has a great deal to say about student mobility on a North/South basis and states that universities in Northern Ireland will actively seek to recruit students from the Republic there is nothing to suggest our universities will be encouraged to attract students from the rest of the UK.
“The truth is that Northern Ireland’s universities do not have any difficulty in attracting students from the Republic but this is most certainly a problem when it comes to attracting students from GB.
“This is a particular issue at the University of Ulster where there is a total imbalance in terms of the number of students coming from the Irish Republic.
“There are 2,800 students from the Republic studying at the University of Ulster which suggests that pro rata it is being more successful in recruiting young people from the Republic than it is in recruiting local Protestant students.
“I was deeply disappointed that I was the only Unionist who thought it worthwhile to stay around and make these points to a Department which is evidently intent on ignoring the problems. Perhaps the truth is that others would be loath to tread on the toes of Sinn Fein/IRA who believe that the Nationalist community has a monopoly on discrimination. My contribution certainly raised the ire of Fra McCann while Barry McElduff lauded the department for their evident commitment to the Republican North/South agenda”.
