January 31 1925
EVEN in this part of Ireland it is doubtful whether anyone will make a public exhibition of the unconscionable hypocrisy which would inspire the suggestion that a “sectarian issue” is raised by the letter under the heading “Catholics and Belfast University” published in another page. We believe the plain figures set forth by Dr Charles McLorinan will be a cause of astonishment to a majority amongst the non-Catholic people of the Six Counties. Who will try to explain them away?
QUB consists of a single College; it is comparable, therefore, with the Dublin College of the National University. The Belfast College has 1,155 students; the Dublin College 1,250.
There are 173 Catholic students in QUB – 15 per cent of the total.
Of the 101 members of the Teaching Staff of QUB, 1 is a Catholic: that is, 1 per cent of that total.
The Dublin College of the NU manages to “carry on” with a Teaching Staff numbering 55. It has only 10 non-Catholic students – a fact to be regretted in one sense, but which is not a matter for surprise when the existence of the old-established, highly-endowed, and world-famous Episcopalian University of Dublin – better known as Trinity College – is taken into account.
The non-Catholic students in the Dublin NU College are 0.8 per cent of the whole body. As 8 of the 55 members of the teaching staff are non-Catholics, the percentage in this case is 14.5 – very nearly 15.
Thus the situations are almost reversed. Belfast, with 15 per cent of Catholic students, has 1 per cent of its Teaching Staff Catholic; Dublin, with less than 1 per cent of non-Catholic students, has (practically) drawn 15 per cent of its Teaching Staff from the non-Catholic sections of the Irish community.
Our Correspondent refers to other matters connected with the general management of the local University. Persons familiar with “academic” affairs can discuss questions relating to the proper proportion between teachers and students. While the Queen’s and National Universities are, legally considered, denominational institutions, it was understood when the former Irish Parliamentary Party won the Act under which both were established that the Northern institution would be most extensively availed of by Presbyterians, while the Southern – a tripartite educational structure – was admittedly founded to rectify an ancient injustice under which the Catholics of the country suffered.
Irish News editorial criticising the percentage of Catholic teaching staff in Queen’s University, Belfast compared to the percentage of non-Catholic teaching staff in the Dublin College of the National University (UCD).
