Professor Gerry McKenna:

The Deputy is correct that the Royal Irish Academy is an all-island organisation. We do all we can to promote co-operation and collaboration. We have a North-South committee, for example, which deals with all sorts of issues relating to Brexit and linkages with Ireland and Great Britain through the Celtic Academies Alliance, the Seven Academies Group and so on. There is quite a lot of collaboration and co-operation between universities in Northern Ireland and their counterparts in the Republic. The example of which I am most aware is the Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance, which involved the University of Ulster along with Trinity College Dublin and University College Cork originally but now Queen's University and UCD. That has led to a joint masters programme, for example, which is part of a European initiative. There is a lot of funding of joint initiatives. Obviously, funding is required to promote initiatives. The shared island unit funding has been very helpful. The recent funding from the Higher Education Authority has promoted North-South co-operation. On the research side in particular, as Dr. Soares stated, there is a significant amount of activity. There is further scope. Developments have occurred at postgraduate level but we have not seen as much at undergraduate level. It is slightly more complicated. That said, we are aware of the movement within Europe to develop European degrees whereby, in effect, one could take different modules from different institutions and there would be equal recognition of those modules. Such a system ought to be in place in the context of the island of Ireland. There is goodwill to do that. In fact, all the institutions may have considered their statutes to ensure they could award joint programmes. The extent to which that has been taken up is perhaps not fully developed but it is important.

In addition, the RIA has been promoting substantial co-operative all-island initiatives in the humanities, for example. There is a lot more going on than people may realise but more could be done. There is certainly no barrier from the institutions to more co-operation and collaboration. In terms of competition, in some ways it is easier for a Southern university to co-operate with a Northern university than with its neighbouring university in the Republic, and vice versa.It is a question of providing the impetus for that to happen. We mentioned that a cross-Border institution should be developed or, at least, considered in respect of the north west, for example. That looks to be the sensible thing to do, that is, not be bound by jurisdictional constraints. There is a lot more going on than people realise.

The more that is nudged and supported the better.