Teachers react angrily as Minister warns that a further €2bn must be saved and that 80pc of his department’s funding goes on salaries and pensions.

A report card from The Children’s Rights Alliance gives the government an E grade for its performance in areas such as Early Childhood Education.

A year after the Government’s announcement of a strategic review of Higher Education, a steering group to conduct the review has not yet been formed.

USI and Friends of the Elderly will jointly launch Open to the Elderly Week, which will see third-level campuses opening their doors to older people.

Disturbing images of teenagers inflicting bloody wounds on each other, urged on by a crowd of excited onlookers, have been posted on the internet.

Major state agencies and third-level educators in the Mid-West have agreed a coordinated approach to tackle unemployment in the region.

Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin has concluded a working holiday agreement with the US which enables students to work there for a year.

Cork Institute of Technology (CIT) is feeling the budgetary bite as fears grow that further cuts will be forced on management to offset financial shortfalls.

The Primary Principals’ Network (IPPN) reports a disturbing increase in calls from principals who say they are being bullied by teachers or parents.

A schoolboy, who was injured when he got shower gel in his eyes, has received €6,500 in compensation from the manufacturers.

Students from across Ireland have been competing in the regional finals of SchoolBots 2009, a computer programming competition for post primary.

With the ending of the €100 annual grant for Transition Year students, there are fears that some schools may decide to scrap the programme.

Michael Carmody, President of the Institute of Technology, Tralee, is the new Chairperson of Institutes of Technology Ireland (IOTI) for 2009.

Galway man Eddie loves Gaelic football, would like to travel and impress his wife with nice wine and great wisdom, and believes absolutely in the value of education.

The winners’ simple but effective invention is a “marketable product” and “will be of tremendous commercial help to farmers”, the judges said.

ICS Skills, the training and certification body of the Irish Computer Society, has secured significant funding for its beginners’ computer course.

Minister O’Keeffe has claimed that 3,300 construction jobs could be created in 2009 by the Government’s €900 million school building programme.

Minister Batt O’Keeffe has launched Cycle 5 of the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions (PRTLI). It will run over five years, 2009 to 2013.

Mature students (over 23’s) applying for arts degree programmes at UCD and UCC must register by Jan 20 for the Mature Student Admissions Pathway.

A new approach, backed by the Minister, will see parents having access to information on pupils’ performance in exams and on all aspects of school life.