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Minister Harris visits IT Carlow days after announcing May 2022 for TU establishment

16/11/2021

Minister Harris visits IT Carlow days after announcing May 2022 for TU establishmentMinister for Further and Higher Education, Research, ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÌåÓýAPP_ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÖÐÎÄÍøÕ¾-ÏÂÔØÍøÖ· and Science, Simon Harris TD visited Institute of Technology Carlow (IT Carlow) yesterday – just days after announcing May 2022 for the establishment of the south east ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÌåÓýAPP_ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÖÐÎÄÍøÕ¾-ÏÂÔØÍøÖ· university in partnership with Waterford Institute of Technology.

Arriving at the Carlow campus shortly after 5pm, Minister Harris was greeted by IT Carlow President Dr Patricia Mulcahy and IT Carlow Governing Body Chair John Moore, who accompanied the Minister on a tour of the campus. The Minister met with students, staff and research leaders who outlined some of the new initiatives currently underway.

Minister Harris said it is a very exciting time for Carlow and the region as it is set to get its first university in the current academic year.  He commented, “I am thrilled today to finally visit IT Carlow in person and to discuss their exciting plans for their merger with Waterford IT next year to create the south east ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÌåÓýAPP_ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÖÐÎÄÍøÕ¾-ÏÂÔØÍøÖ· university”.

“This is going to be a watershed moment for higher education in the south-east region, and we can look forward to the TU increasing higher education access, driving enhanced regional development, and delivering more opportunities to students, staff, businesses and communities across the region. I want to congratulate everyone in both IT Carlow and WIT, as well as the wider communities, who worked so hard to make this a reality.”

At the campus Barrow Centre, Head of Learner Support and Student Services Rosemary Flynn introduced the Minister to the student union president and officers, 1916 bursary recipients, access students, peer mentors and lifelong learners.

The Minister viewed the institute’s high performance sport facilities in the company of Director of Sport Donal McNally and met with representatives from some of IT Carlow’s 60 student clubs and societies and several student athletes – including IT Carlow alumnus and Olympian Marcus Lawler.

In the Haughton Building, Vice-President for Development and Research Dr Declan Doyle introduced Minister Harris to some postgraduate research students representing the institute’s research centres, who were delighted to share an overview of their research work with the Minister.

Vice-President for Academic Affairs David Denieffe and Director for People, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Colette Lane briefed the Minister on several initiatives underway at IT Carlow, including the work of the institute’s Ending Sexual Violence, Prevention and Support Committee (ESP) group that is overseeing and driving implementation of the governmental Framework for Consent.

A strong advocate of apprenticeships, Minister Harris was briefed on the new geodrilling apprentice programme by Head of Faculty for Engineering Dr Frances Hardiman and colleagues, while International Affairs Manager Donal McAllister, TU Project Director Dr David Ryan, and colleagues provided an update on recent international initiatives. These included the Carlow International College of Technology, to be established in the city of Zhengzhou in Henan Province, China, and the newly established European university consortium that is working towards an application under the European Universities Initiative.

Capital Projects Manager Keith Williams provided the Minister with a tour of the modern and expanding campus, highlighting new developments, including the recently completed €15million, 31-acre South Sports Campus and the north quarter site of the campus where the new €21million corporate support services building recently broke ground.

Welcoming the Minister to the Carlow campus, Dr Mulcahy said “Our thanks to the Minister for taking the time to meet with our students and staff in-person and experience first-hand the incredible spirit, pride and exceptional work of all those in our community. It is their efforts that has brought us to the point we are at today when we will see, in partnership with Waterford Institute of Technology, the establishment of our south east ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÌåÓýAPP_ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÖÐÎÄÍøÕ¾-ÏÂÔØÍøÖ· university by May 2022. We thank the Minister for his recent announcement on this matter and for all his support in enhancing education provision across the country and, particularly, across all counties of the south-east region.

Caption: Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÌåÓýAPP_ÍþÁ®Ï£¶ûÖÐÎÄÍøÕ¾-ÏÂÔØÍøÖ· and Science, Simon Harris TD is pictured at the start of his visit to IT Carlow yesterday with IT Carlow President Dr Patricia Mulcahy and IT Carlow Governing Body Chair John Moore. Pic: Mary Browne.