Minister hails ‘exciting' degree where students spend two years working in industry
The new BSc/MSc in immersive bioscience and biotherapeutics at University of Limerick (UL) is due to be launched on Thursday.
The development comes at a time of
debate in higher education circles
about whether the sector is too reliant on industry-sponsored research and education in order to plug State funding gaps.
UL has described the degree as a new venture. designed in collaboration with international companies such as Eli Lilly and Analogue Devices, which seeks to 'cultivate the leading scientific minds of the future'.
READ MORE
The companies will contribute to curriculum design, participate as guest contributors and host students on industry residencies.
The first intake of students will be in September 2026.
It follows a similar model to UL's immersive software engineering programme, now in its third year of operation.
Students will receive a bachelor and master of science degree in four years, with two years spent learning on campus and two years working in biotech industries.
UL says students will have the 'competitive advantage of two years of experience working in industry when they graduate'.
Minister for Higher Education James Lawless welcomed the launch of the 'iBio' programme.
'This innovative, industry-led and learner-focused course recognises that not all learning happens in lecture halls,' he said.
'Through immersive, hands-on experiences, both on campus and in the workplace, students will graduate with not just a degree, but two full years of real-world industry experience.'
The programme, he said, offered 'more choice, more relevance, a modern model of education that's fit for the future and supports the vision of education driving Ireland's economy.'
Acting UL president Professor Shane Kilcommins said the new degree represented a 'giant leap forward' in the delivery of undergraduate scientific education.
Students, he said, will be 'embedded in the knowledge community where they are active and interactive partners in the learning process.'
Prof Jakki Cooney, iBio course director, said the course was all about developing a passion for the science of disease and medicines, about being creative and curious about the world, embracing challenges and working in teams using scientific data to solve complex problems.
'We are offering a new way to learn the science and biology of medicine making and discovery,' she said.
The Government has acknowledged that there is a funding gap of more than €300m facing Irish higher education and has pledged to address this over successive budgets.
Meanwhile, research by
PublicPolicy.ie into funding of Irish universities
found that industry funding of third level is increasingly becoming the norm.
The paper highlighted potential risks such as the erosion of support for academic endeavours that may not be perceived as having commercial value, as well as challenges in preserving the integrity of academia in a landscape increasingly driven by market-driven priorities.
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Irish Times
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Irish Times
an hour ago
- Irish Times
‘We have no choice': Palestinian women reveal exploitation working in Israeli settlements
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[ Exhausted and imprisoned: how life in the West Bank is getting worse for Palestinians Opens in new window ] 'I'm against settlements but, for me, there's no other alternative. Because of that I'm against the boycott of the products coming from the settlements but only for one reason, because it could impact the opportunities I get. I'm doing a big sacrifice. It's a huge suffering but we don't have any other choice. 'It's all about the family. If I didn't do this then what would happen to my children? I don't want them to end up working in settlements like me. They have been offered the opportunity to go to work in settlements but there have been incidents of harassment. It's not a safe environment for my daughters.' A vendor near a checkpoint where Palestinians sometimes wait all day trying to cross in Qalandia, West Bank. 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During Covid-19, they let some people go and kept only the good people, but they also started exploiting us, giving them extra hours without getting paid. There was a lot of work pressure. 'At some point they made us sleep in the dry cleaners. In the whole day you get half an hour break for lunch and then go back to work. We wanted to pray but couldn't even get the time to pray. 'In settlements, there's a humiliation in our treatment. There was a gate for Palestinian workers and a gate for Israelis. Once a broker took me to the wrong gate, they checked my ID and found out my brother was in prison and made me stand in the sun for an hour. They released me, but only after the guard asked the Israeli broker to go and get a weapon as the guard said it was dangerous to be around me. 'We have to be at the checkpoints at 2am. Sometimes we sleep in the car and sometimes we can't sleep. Sometimes there's conflict at the checkpoints, they'd shoot gas bombs and sound bombs for no reason. We don't have any alternatives. Our government is not creating the opportunities for us to work. 'The war has destroyed everything. Because of the war, Palestinian workers are unable to go to Israel so they had to shift to working in the settlements if they are allowed to. There used to be Palestinian brokers making 600 shekels a day but now they're making 90 . The business owners, the settlers, say if you don't like it there are a lot of other workers who want this. I am originally from Gaza and they can see that on the system; I was held for three hours at a checkpoint as a result. 'They've brought Chinese and Indian workers and they're paying them more than the Palestinians, but they're not doing a good job. 'There's harassment, humiliation, especially for young girls. One of my employers fired me because there was another lady willing to take the job and go out with him and things could get physical. It depends on the personality of the women and the conditions, some of them are divorced, some are tempted, some are forced. They are pressured into it, especially in the settlements.' A car park at the Barkan industrial estate beside the Israeli settlement of Ariel, in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Sally Hayden Lama (52): 'My family and relatives ... would prefer me not to go work in Israel or in the settlements' 'I have one boy and one girl, and used to live in Jordan with my family before coming back in 2021. I was surprised to find out that women worked in Israel and in the settlements because before that it was only the men. 'I needed income and had to find a job. There was a Palestinian clothes store near home that paid 20 shekels a day. I consulted my brothers and my sister-in-law who said there's an opportunity in the settlements where they heard you could make 220 shekels a day. 'Actually, it should have been 150 shekels, but the broker takes 60 ). I worked in a factory inside Israel too and got 280 shekels a day, with the broker still taking 60. We would use illegal crossings next to a checkpoint where they cut the fence and smuggled us in. We used to leave at 2am or 3am to get to the crossing. 'The first thing is the challenge of getting there ... We would get to the settlement and wait for the broker to pick us up from a very crowded area with no clean bathrooms. Go to the factory and be standing the whole time. We couldn't sit on chairs on the production line, couldn't talk, couldn't joke, you have to be moving the whole time. Your hands have to keep working. 'Some – especially old women – used to get diseases, like liquid in their feet, and they would go home sick. The buses were crowded because the more women, the more money for the brokers. We worked from 6am-10.30am, then the first and only break. Sometimes it's only 20 minutes. Then you go back to work until 3.30pm. Sometimes they say 'who wants to do some extra work?' and two out of the whole bus would want to stay, and the whole group will be forced to wait for them or work too. They were promised extra money but it wasn't given to them. 'The Israelis were not dealing with us directly, it's definitely a Palestinian operation. I didn't see any Israelis doing the same jobs for the same money. They wouldn't. We hear news from the workers being smuggled now into Israel after the war and they say the Israelis are complaining, they want the Palestinian workers to come back. 'There was a debate the whole time from my family and relatives. They would prefer me not to go work in Israel or in the settlements.' A car park in a settlement in the occupied West Bank. Photograph: Sally Hayden Maha (55): 'I would encourage banning trade with settlements if there's alternatives for Palestinian women' 'I am a mother of two boys and two girls, and I started working in settlements in 2015. I also went inside Israel, where they have industrial zones and big factories. 'Sometimes we'd organise dates and grapes, packing and sorting, avocados, mango, grapefruit, corn. It's exhausting, it's not an easy job. We had to leave at 1am to get to work because of the checkpoints. 'I then worked as a broker, because I was exploited as a worker before. I didn't want women to experience the same thing. I paid them in full. The women were very appreciative of that. I had a group of 45 women and I would get paid a commission just for bringing them. 'I wouldn't encourage working in Israeli settlements if we had the alternatives, our own businesses, our own projects, but this is our only choice. 'This is not something that we like, having these settlements, this is something that we were forced into. I would encourage banning trade with these settlements if there's alternatives for Palestinian women. 'We could invest in our local market, in our local agriculture. For example there are some Palestinian packing houses for grapes. What we really need are exporting opportunities for our products. If we can find these, then people will turn to these sectors. 'If the international community can support us to open channels to export our products then this would be good for us. Then we could control our life and our time. Our lives would become easier.' Nawal (59): 'I witnessed this exploitation of young women in most settlements' 'I started working in the settlements eight years ago. There was a bad economy, no work opportunities, nothing else to do. 'It was the worst kind of circumstances. No bathrooms: sometimes you just do it on the land. No privacy. The main cause of me leaving the job was the bad treatment. The harassment that took place was disgusting. 'There's a lot of harassment. Sometimes the girls are forced to agree to go with the men. They would go to their houses with them. If she wants to keep her job, if she wants more money, she has to ... it's really heartbreaking to talk about. They are 17, 20, they go to college and they come to work because they need to earn some money to pay for their education. The women themselves said this is the only option they have. I witnessed this exploitation of young women in most settlements. 'I got blacklisted when I advised one of the girls not to go out with the Israeli business owner. I said: 'Why are you doing this, you are destroying these young women's lives and future?'. And the settler responded saying: 'I have a lot of bastards in [the Palestinian city of] Tulkarem'. He has the power, he has the money, he has the work opportunity that these young ladies need. 'If a woman got pregnant he would give her nothing. Sometimes they do abortions. If she's a widow, if she's divorced, she would definitely need to do an abortion because she would not survive the community. If their communities found out they could be killed, they would take it out on her because they can't do anything to the Israelis. 'Now, during this war, it has increased because there are no other options. I wouldn't do it, I would die out of hunger not to allow anyone to touch me because of my principles and my religion. 'We need protection, we need income opportunities, health insurance, so that we can quit this life.'
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
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