Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the extensive work of the Minister of State and her staff as well as successive Ministers on the Bill and thank them for it. It is important that consultation has been held with TUI, IMPACT, USI and the Technological Higher Education Association. I was glad to see the Minister of State accept a number of amendments in the Dáil. Some of them were very constructive and positive, in particular the amendments which related to ensuring that we underscore the social, community and creative role technological universities can play. It was mentioned by one of my colleagues today that we have increasingly seen these institutes of technology not only lead in various areas of technology, but be at the driving edge and moving forward in areas such as the humanities and the arts. For example, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology has had an excellent reputation in the arts for a while. In fact, it was questioned in correspondence I received on the Bill whether "technological" was the appropriate heading for the Technological Universities Bill but I imagine that ship has sailed.

This week, we have seen the research developed in the dairy sector and in agritech and the strong business and community engagement here. The key point, however, is that when we speak about partnership between these institutions, which will now become universities, that it is not only about partnership with business but that we also talk about partnership with communities and public partnership. We hear about public private partnership, but what of public public partnership? We know that there is much to be learned from other states as they try to face up to practical and logistical challenges on the ground and it will be interesting to see how these new technological universities intersect with similar universities in other areas. I am thinking of the polytechnics in the United Kingdom which have been a driving force in many areas.

The record of the institutes of technology throughout the country has been exemplary in terms of delivering a wide diversity of courses in technical and applied skills and, in particular, in ensuring a diversity of students. There has been engagement with and support of a diversity of students with what many would see as a more flexible and holistic approach than that seen in many other universities. It is important that this is not lost and that it remains core within the work of any future universities. As a result of this holistic approach and the understanding of the difficulties many students and prospective students often face, I believe the presidents of the institutes of technology have had a stronger and more accurate reading of the possible impact of student loans and I support their position on the Cassells report. That is a matter for separate discussion, however.

If we move towards having technological universities, there needs to be an increase in resources. We are now moving into a position where research will not just be carried out where there are external partners. These technological universities must be given the resources to set their own agenda to drive, for example, frontier and basic research forward. We need to ensure that the space given to other universities-----