Higher education minister Simon Harris granted technological university (TU) status to Athlone Institute of Technology and Limerick Institute of Technology earlier this week.
This is the third TU to be created since 2019, and it means students graduating in the 2021-2022 academic year will do so with university qualifications.
The next step will see the minister bring forward a draft order establishing a date on which the new technological university will be legally established, and Athlone and Limerick ITs consequentially dissolved, for approval by the Houses of the Oireachtas.
Fórsa official Stella Griffin, who works with Fórsa members in the sector, welcomed the announcement as “great news and an education milestone for the midlands and the mid-west region.”
The first TU in the history of the state, TU Dublin, was established on 1st January 2019, the second was Munster Technological University or MTU (formerly Cork IT and IT Tralee) on 1st January this year.
The process to designate a new TU is enshrined in the Technological Universities Act (2018), which allows two or more IoTs to jointly seek TU designation. The legislation followed recommendations contained in the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 published in 2011.
The latest application for TU designation was submitted by the TUSEI consortium of Waterford IT and IT Carlow at the end of April and an application from the Connacht Ulster Alliance of GMIT, IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT is anticipated soon. Dundalk IT and IADT Dun Laoghaire are also currently working towards achieving TU status.
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