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The need for young Protestants to be made welcome in Queen’s
University and other seats of further education has been stressed
in a number of recent newspaper articles, and this is an encouraging
trend.
One of the most disturbing factors of the 35 years of the
Northern Ireland Troubles was the ‘cold house’ factor
for Protestant students which led to many of them opting to
do their university studies in Scotland and England.
Newspaper headlines concerning Queen’s University became
dominated about issues like the opposition to playing the
National Anthem at graduation ceremonies, and the axing of
the RUC band from same.
There were reports of the Students Union being dominated
by republican students, and the university gained a reputation
as a place where Protestant students were not welcome, unless
they kept their heads down.
Happily, recent years has seen a vast improvement in attitudes,
and Queen’s University is doing its best to get the message
across that Protestants, and indeed all religious groups,
are most welcome.
But a lot of hard work remains to be done, and recent figures
show that only 40 per cent of the Northern Irish students
are Protestants.
At the New University of Ulster, the estimate is that the
religious divide among students is 50-50. But a few miles
down the road in Londonderry, only 20 per cent of the students
at the Magee university campus are Protestant.
This huge imbalance has been recognised by the university
authorities who are doing their best to redress the situation,
but it is no proving easy.
It is generally accepted that about two-thirds of Ulster
young people who go across the water to universities in England
and Scotland are Protestant.
And it has also been estimated that only about one-third
of these return to Northern Ireland on completion of their
studies. The others tend to stay because they have obtained
employment, or have met a partner and elected to live on the
mainland.
These are all extremely important matters for the Ulster
Assembly to consider, and every possible effort must be made
to try and achieve a situation whereby the number of Protestant
students at university in the province are 55 per cent, thereby
reflecting the religious divide.
That’s not unreasonable, as tremendous efforts have
been made, with considerable success, to bring about a balance
in the PSNI which reflects the religious percentages.
Protestants are entitled to the same rights and consideration
s Roman Catholics, and the political representatives of the
majority community must pull out all the stops to bring this
about.
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