Sexual bias irks union

EUROPE

The Irish Federation of University Teachers has slammed the "serious gender imbalance" in the current round of promotions at University College Dublin where one female and 19 male associate professors are to be appointed.

At the last count there were eight female professors or associate professors compared with 111 males.

The union said that last year's Universities' Act stated that one of the objects of a university shall include "to promote gender balance and equality of opportunity among students and employees of the university".

Registrar Caroline Hussey is one of the few female academics in a senior administrative post. She said the university was monitoring female applications for promotion and was proposing research into the reasons why so few were applying. The university has rejected a call to delay confirming the appointments.