Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I fully understand and sympathise with the sentiments that have been expressed in counties Wexford, Carlow and Waterford regarding the need for a top class third level university. However, that has to be balanced with where we are at the present time. We have seven universities and the Dublin Institute of Technology, DIT. There are 10,000 universities in the world. All our universities and the DIT are in the top 500 universities, which is extraordinary, and two of them are in the top 100. We should learn lessons from what our neighbours in Britain did years ago with the rebranding of polytechnics. Britain devalued the concept of a university by rebranding a host of polytechnics, which are similar to our institutes of technology. That is not the way to go. It would damage the university sector in its entirety to simply change the name of an institute. The Hunt report and the programme for Government have set out a path for a technological university. There are examples of first class technological universities across the world and the one that most easily comes to mind is Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, which is a world leader.

The Deputy is from Waterford and I am aware of the standards that have been achieved in WIT. The institute should play to its own strengths. A path is open to WIT to pursue a technological university structure. There will not be a rebranded university as long as I am Minister. I wish to be honest with Members.

I also congratulate Deputy Wallace on this election.

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