Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 9 September 2020
25. Deputy Verona Murphy asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the timeline for the amalgamation of Institute of Technology Carlow and Waterford Institute of Technology to form the Technological University for the South East Ireland. [22600/20]
View answerI seek an update from the Minister on the timeline for the amalgamation of Institute of Technology, IT, Carlow and Waterford IT to form a technological university in the south east of Ireland.
I thank Deputy Verona Murphy for asking this question which she has asked of me many times in the last eight weeks. I know it is a priority for her and for all Oireachtas Members from the south east because it is potentially a transformational project in the context of regional development and access to higher education. I assure the Deputy that it is a priority for me as well. Indeed, the progression of technological universities is a key national strategic objective in terms of advancing the higher education agenda but also in terms of skills, access, research and regional development. The programme for Government specifically references the establishment of a technological university for the south east and it falls on me to do everything within my power to make sure that happens.
Obviously, as autonomous higher education institutions, it remains a matter for the governing bodies of the individual institutions engaged in a consortium seeking technological university designation under the requirements of the Technological Universities Act 2018. The Technological University for the South East Ireland, TUSEI, consortium of IT Carlow and Waterford IT continues to actively develop its application for technological university designation.
As the Deputy knows, in late July I announced that I had appointed Mr. Tom Boland as the independent programme executive director for the TUSEI project. He and his team are now tasked with driving the necessary change management process and ensuring an application is submitted to me under the 2018 Act. I recently met Mr. Boland and this month I will meet him, the presidents of the two relevant institutes of technology and the chairs of their governing boards. When I met Mr. Boland I underlined the Government's expectation that significant progress should be made in the months to year end on developing a robust project plan. It is key to have a project plan with milestones, accountability and implementation with a view to submitting a high quality application under the Technological Universities Act as soon as is feasible. Subject to speaking to the presidents, my understanding at this juncture is that an application is being readied with a view to submitting it by quarter 2 of 2021. In other words, I will need to be in a position to designate this by next summer if we are to go ahead with a commencement date in January 2022. It is my intention and Mr. Boland's intention that 1 January 2022 will be the start date for this new technological university. There is a hell of a lot of work to be done in order to achieve that.
I wish Mr. Boland well in his task. I will be available to assist on the project as a representative of the Wexford constituency. The south east is experiencing a period of significant change due to rapid population increase. In an economy that is diversifying in light of the shifting annual European and global environments, new patterns of population distribution particular to the county as a whole have come about, with easy access to the regions though the road infrastructure being one of the contributing factors. A technological university of international standing will be a key component of the infrastructure which is required to drive sustainable regional economic and social development. In particular, Wexford must have a new university campus in the immediate future to enable the county to retain a trained and highly skilled work force that will attract a fair portion of foreign direct investment which is badly needed there. I envisage that the campus would host the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, STEM, courses which are essential as the cohesive force for a centre of knowledge. The Departments of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and Communications, Climate Action and Environment already being in situ in Wexford will enable research and innovation to assist such courses in the region. Can the Minister confirm that he is committed to establishing a university campus in Wexford?
Absolutely. It is key to the success of this project that there be a Wexford campus. That has always been the intention and it needs to happen. The consortium recently designed a change management programme and established a project office with three full-time executives and support staff. That office has been working on making progress and updating the draft application which is now being reviewed in the context of the recent success of the Munster technological university consortium application process. In other words, it is learning from technological universities that have already been through the process.
As evidence of the priority attached to this project, I brought a memorandum to the Government on 22 July, informing the Cabinet on the progression of the TUSEI proposals, the appointment of Mr. Tom Boland and the plans that we wish to put in place to create a real momentum around the project. There have been too many false dawns relating to it. We are still aiming for technological university designation on 1 January 2022. That is the goal and the moment of transformation for the south east. There is a significant amount that I can and will do. I will give it a lot of time and energy. There is also a significant amount that we need the individual institutions and the stakeholders in the south east to do. I know they will undertake that significant body of work. Everyone needs to put their shoulders to the wheel and get a lot of heavy lifting done between now and the end of the year.
I am a former student of Carlow IT and have heard the Minister speak at length in recent days regarding further and higher education. I undertook a bachelor of arts degree in law in 2006 as a night student in Carlow IT. As a full-time worker and the mother of a teenage daughter, I would not have had that opportunity if that course was not available. Students from Wexford have access to the Carlow campus but I passionately believe that we need a new technological campus in order to service further and higher education needs, as the Minister stated. Not everyone can take the conventional route and head off to college or university in the big smoke. Particularly in these times of financial strife, parents wish for their children to have the opportunity to stay in their native county to study.
In light of the week that is in it, I am very pleased that Deputy Murphy has told of her experience of the benefits of further education because it can be transformational. There are many pathways to get to where people wish to go. I have heard many stories this week of persons who missed out on a place in university that they desperately wanted. They were disappointed at the time, but did a year in further education and then got a place in university the next year. They benefitted from that year. I encourage everybody in that situation to follow a similar course.
On the Deputy's point regarding regional development and the cost to families, this is another key game changer. We know that the longer people can stay and live in an area, the more likely they are to set up their family there, buy their home there and make their life there. From a balanced regional development approach, these technological universities are potential game changers. I know Deputy Harkin will shortly ask me about a technological university for the north east. The technological universities are key from an educational point of view and if we are serious in this House about regional development and caring about the regions. The days of everyone having to go to the big smoke, as the Deputy called it, in order to access to higher education must come to an end.
