Cassells is wrong. You can cut costs using technology!

Higher education is very expensive. Not only for students and their parents but also the state that subsidises a large proportion of the provision.  Indeed, it is claimed that currently the state in Ireland does not provide... [ view full abstract ]

Higher education is very expensive. Not only for students and their parents but also the state that subsidises a large proportion of the provision.  Indeed, it is claimed that currently the state in Ireland does not provide enough funding to adequately resource higher education. In March of 2016, the expert group on future funding for higher education released the report "Investing In National Ambition: A Strategy For Funding Higher Education", also known as the "Cassells Report" after Peter Cassells who chaired the expert group.  The expert group examined three options for funding, recommending a form of student loans, but did not consider the idea of cutting costs, explicitly stating in the report that learning technologies could not be a “quick fix”.  However, there are many examples in existence of higher education being provided at much lower costs and there are technologies and techniques emerging that will have significant impact on the cost of provision in the near future.  As we move towards even greater demand for higher education it is imperative that the sustainability of the sector be achieved, not only by sufficient funding, but also by exploiting the efficiencies that can be achieved through learning technologies, in order to reduce the financial burden on students, parents and tax-payers.