John Deasy (Waterford, Fine Gael)
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335. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of meetings his Department has held separately or jointly with board representatives of Waterford Institute of Technology and Carlow Institute of Technology in 2017 at which the proposed south east technological university has been discussed. [54617/17]

Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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I visited the Institute of Technology Carlow on 30 June 2017 and met with the Chairperson of the Governing Body, President and members of the Senior Management Team to discuss a range of matters relating to higher education including the development of a technological university for the South East (TUSE).

I also met with the Chairperson of Waterford Institute of Technology’s Governing Body on 20 September 2017. A number of matters relating to higher education, including the TUSE project, were discussed at the meeting.

The institutes of technology in a consortium lead on the progression of their plans to seek designation as a technological university.

The Government is supporting the progression of technological university development in both the advancement currently of the Technological Universities Bill through the legislative process and in the provision of significant Exchequer funding to the four consortia of institutes of technology currently involved in projects to develop technological universities.

Most recently in November 2017 my Department, through the Higher Education Authority (HEA), allocated some €4.64 million in funding across the relevant consortia. Further Exchequer funding has been allocated for TU development in 2018. The HEA interacts directly with all consortia in the context of the funding process for TU development.

In addition, in implementing the Systems Performance Framework for Higher Education, progress on the development of TU projects has been a key part of the HEA’s conversations with relevant individual institutions as part of the strategic dialogue process. Within this process, the HEA has provided detailed feedback to the institutions involved including those comprising the TUSE consortium.