The European Union’s statistics agency has confirmed that hundreds of millions of euro in borrowings by Irish universities should remain off the Government’s balance sheet. The decision by Eurostat is a major relief for universities and policymakers who feared the opposite decision would jeopardise expansion plans to cope with rising student numbers. This has been used to modernise facilities at Trinity, UCD, DCU, University College Cork, Maynooth University and the University of Limerick. Late last year, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) recommended to Eurostat that universities’ liabilities should not be classified on the Government’s balance sheet. This means that while their stock of liabilities is included in the “contingent liabilities” of Government, it is not on its balance sheet.

Source: The Irish Times April 16, 2018 17:37 UTC