Written answers

Wednesday, 13 October 2021

Department of Education and Skills

Technological Universities

Photo of Joe CareyJoe Carey (Clare, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

77. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the role he foresees for the new university campus in Ennis, County Clare of the Technological University of the Shannon; if its plans to link with local business and innovation will include the Shannon Aviation Cluster and the Green Atlantic Project based in Moneypoint to provide renewable energy for the entire country and beyond; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49536/21]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The functions of a technological university (TU) are set out in section 9 of the Technological Universities Act 2018. It is a matter for the governing body of the new Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest as an autonomous higher education institution as to how specifically the TU fulfils those functions including the roles played by or at particular campuses of the university.

The Deputy will be aware that a key role of the TU is to engage with local and regional stakeholders including in the business and enterprise spheres, as well as with the local community, with a view to driving regional development and socio-economic provision through provision of access to higher education, building research capacity and providing a broad range of education and training across all levels of the National Framework of Qualifications through research informed teaching and learning excellence. It is a legislative function of a TU to collaborate with business, enterprise, the professions, the community, local interests and related stakeholders in the region in which the campuses of the TU are located and to support the development of a skilled labour force.

The communities in areas where there are campuses of the new TU will, over time, benefit from the university attracting more students, the retention and creation of skills and employment in its regional hinterlands and acting as a catalyst for research, innovation and enterprise with a view to attracting increasing levels of investment including Foreign Direct Investment and to contributing to further regional and socio-economic development. It will be a matter for the governing body of the new TU to fulfil its functions under the Act, a number of which also relate to regional development and community interaction, and to pursue relevant missions that facilitate delivery of these functions across the university’s multi-campuses including in Ennis, County Clare in concert with the university’s staff and students, external regional stakeholders and wider community interests.

It is a matter for the president and governing body of the new TU to set out its vision and mission by way of a strategic development plan. Section 18 of the 2018 Act provides that the president, Professor Cunnane in the case of the new TU, shall prepare such a plan as soon as practicable after the appointed day of 1 October 2021. The plan shall specify the objectives of the TU for the period of the plan and the strategies for achieving those objectives, the purposes for which the TU proposes to use its resources, its plans to provide programmes of education and training that meet the needs of individuals, business, enterprise, the professions, the community, local interests and related stakeholders in the region in which the campuses of the TU are located and its plans to develop and promote strong social and cultural links, and links supporting creativity, between the TU and the community in the region in which the campuses of the TU are located.

While the plans and proposals, mission and values of any specific TU are matters for the governing body of the higher education institution in question, the application documents submitted by the former Institutes of Technology in Athlone and Limerick in making their case for establishment as a TU are publicly available and indicate the broad direction of travel of the TU should it be established as it duly was. These documents are publicly available on the website of the Higher Education Authority at:

hea.ie/policy/he-reform/technological-universities/technological-university-of-the-shannon-midlands-midwest/.

Government has invested heavily in the TU agenda to date with €90m of Exchequer funding pledged between 2020 and 2023 via the TU transformation fund. This is on top of the €31m Exchequer funding allocated up to 2019.

A further €40 million is being allocated to a TU education and reforms project under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and officials from my Department and the Higher Education Authority are also preparing a further TU research oriented application for additional funding under the European Regional Development Fund.

In addition, I am strongly committed to appropriate capital investment to underpin the ambitions of our higher education institutions including TUs. Officials from my Department and the Higher Education Authority have regular engagement with HEIs, including all TUs, in relation to their future campus development plans.

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.