The Minister for Higher Education has re-affirmed the Government’s commitment to a Technological University for the South East.
Simon Harris was speaking at a new Regional Engagement Advisory Group, attended by Presidents of IT Carlow and WIT and business leaders for the area.
Minister @SimonHarrisTD today reaffirmed his commitment to deliver a Technological University for the South East. More at https://t.co/nudZQci137 pic.twitter.com/FFcvrof7DN
— Department of Further and Higher Education (@DeptofFHed) January 28, 2021
Minister Simon Harris said that it's a TU for everyone in the region not just for Waterford or for Carlow but also for Wexford, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Laois and Kildare.
"It is a significant priority for Government, myself as Minister and my department that the South East attains technological university status this year.
"This region is the only one without any university presence and that is a situation that is not good for the region and which must and will be rectified.
"The benefits of a TU are significant - the ability to attract Foreign Direct Investment, to retain and create skills and employment in the region and to give students the highest quality education across all qualification levels, from apprenticeship to doctoral degrees, whilst residing in their own locality.
"I want the TU that emerges in the South East to be a magnet for investment, a driver of regional access and development of all types and a catalyst for innovation and change."
Mr. Tom Boland, a former Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority (HEA), is the independent Programme Executive Director for the TUSEI consortium comprising the Carlow and Waterford Institutes of Technology. Minister Harris has met Mr Boland regularly about the project.
Minister Harris added:
"This region has suffered greatly in successive global economic and financial crises and is crying out for an anchor within the higher education and enterprise landscape that can deliver real change and prosperity; I firmly believe this is what the new TU will do.
"I want also to emphasise that this is a TU for everyone in the region not just for Waterford or for Carlow but also for Wexford, Kilkenny, Wicklow, Laois and Kildare.
"I want the people of the South-East not to have to cast covetous glances at Dublin or Cork or Galway but to be proud that they have a university every bit as good if not better than the excellent provision in those cities and others."
Prof Willie Donnelly, President WIT said:
"The members of the advisory group will help us succeed in the final stages of achieving what has been a long-held ambition here in the South-East - to establish a university of international standing in and for the region and they will support its development long into the future."
Dr Patricia Mulcahy, President IT Carlow said:
"TUSEI will be of, and for, the South-East, but with a national and global perspective and reach. Our local stakeholders have been a key part of our story to-date and will remain so."
