DCU last week announced that the chain would donate 60,000 towards a PhD research project due to begin later this year, in which a doctoral candidate will research the impact of multiculturalism on the Irish workplace.

The Higher Education Authority (HEA) has previously called for Irish universities to be completely privatised along the lines of US institutions such as Harvard and Yale. According to the HEA, closer links to industry will benefit the sector.

However, Siptu has been highly critical of any plans to privatise Irish universities, labelling privatisation "the simplistic solution to fill the gap left by public spending." The trade union argued that it would not be advantagous to Irish society to follow the model of Harvard and Yale, where student fees are currently $40,450 and $37,000 respectively.

While Irish universities are currently 80% state-funded, corporate sponsorship of courses or departments is becoming more common.