Dr. Fergal Barry:

I will pick up on Deputy Burton's questions on the Technological Universities Bill. I am the fifth and final one of the vulnerable institutes of technology - the famous five. We are probably running the largest deficit in recent years. As an institute, we have run out of cash reserves and are now using our capital development reserves to trade. Like my colleague in Dundalk, Ms Ann Campbell, we have entered into an agreement with the Higher Education Authority about restoring our institution to financial balance. We have taken the decision voluntarily. Its consequences include further reductions in our non-pay, redeployment of staff and larger class sizes and we are perilously close to impacting on the quality of the higher education provided to our graduates, which I take exceptionally personally. Among the presidents here, I am probably the only graduate of the institutes of technology sector that is a serving president of an institute of technology, with levels 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 qualifications from many of the institutes and universities in Ireland.

We are speaking about cost, but if we move to looking at the impact of the institutes of technology, an extensive study was done by a number of professors in Trinity College Dublin that looks at the type II multiplier, which is the direct and indirect induced demand and consumption generated by the presence of institutes of technology in a region. In regions such as Letterkenny, Galway and Mayo every €1 million that runs through the institutes of technology is very productive and highly paid individuals work in the local community.

Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology inherited multiple campuses. They originated from a time when we were funded directly by the Department of Education and Skills. As the funding has transitioned to the Higher Education Authority, our guaranteed funding for multiple campuses has been eroded. Approximately 33% of the students of many of our colleague institutes study engineering disciplines, but in GMIT 49% of our students study science, technology, engineering and maths. We support not only a national manufacturing centre of excellence in Galway, but a global centre for medical device manufacturing, with 10% of all Ireland's manufacturing coming out of Galway city. When we add to this other intensive activity in art and design, approximately 60% of our students are at the weighting of 1.7 discussed by Professor Collins. As the State grant has been eroded and the student contribution has been increased, the weighting has not applied to the student contribution. We generate a surplus on our Galway campus which we use to fund deficits in campuses which were promised ring-fenced funding.

The creation of technological universities that generate the type of regional economic development indicated by the study done by our colleagues in Trinity College Dublin would come at cost, but let us look at the impact and the scale and capacity they would provide to engage in research and development and the reach capacity with which they would provide us internationally. They would generate organisations with a scale of 20,000 or 21,000 students, which are very attractive partners for international collaboration. They would also position us for long-term financial sustainability.

Added to this, we must have a borrowing framework to put us at a par with the universities. Six of the seven universities have borrowed approximately €560 million at very low interest rates from European investment banks. This has also positioned them to leverage money from the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund for student accommodation and self-financing activity. This privilege is not afforded to the institutes of technology and I contend this needs to be part of the response of the committee.

To look at how we may get more women into engineering, GMIT has further segmented science and engineering and we are looking at adding programmes in biomedical engineering which are more attractive. Without the level of investment, we have no choice in the institution but to look to larger groups and to look at reducing our contribution to projects, which are so central to the work we do and to providing practical support to the students to gain productive employment. Our latest career survey showed 94% of our students are in employment or further study within eight months of graduation. This is a testament to our success. Over the coming weeks we will celebrate approximately 2,000 graduations from the institute.