The Higher Education Authority has warned that Ireland is at risk of moving from a low cost system of higher education with high quality outcomes, to a low cost and low quality system that will not be able to meet demand.
Chief Executive Tom Boland told a meeting of economists at the DEW Economic Policy conference in Cork today that urgent action on funding is needed to avoid such an outcome.
Mr Boland said this should be combined with measures to improve efficiency, such as increased autonomy for the colleges.
He said that expenditure had dropped from €11,800 per student in 2008 to €9,500 in 2013, while it will fall to €9,000 next year.
Mr Boland said there were now more than 2,200 fewer staff employed in the sector compared to 2009, which is a reduction of almost 13%.
