In 1592, Trinity College Dublin became the first higher education institution on this island. It has taken another 428 years for an Irish university to put a woman in charge. Prof Mey, a 56-year-old professor of visual culture, makes history as not only the first female president of the University of Limerick (UL), but the first for any university in Ireland. While much of the focus of the gender equality debate in higher education has been on academics, the imbalance is found across all areas. Former higher education minister Mary Mitchell O'Connor prioritised the issue with a Gender Equality Taskforce aimed at speeding things up.

Source: Irish Independent July 09, 2020 23:26 UTC