Josephine Feehily appointed as chair of Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest

The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has today confirmed the appointment of the first governing body of the new Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest which will open its doors on 1 October 2021.

This follows the granting of Technological University (TU) status to Athlone and Limerick Institutes of Technology, which entities will cease to legally exist from that date.

The appointment of Josephine Feehily as Chair was made by Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris.

Ms Feehily will be joined by Mr. John Griffin, Chair of the Board and CEO of Ericsson in Ireland, a multi-national company which is a major employer in Athlone, and Ms. Colette Ryan who has over 30 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical industry, as external members of the governing body, and Mr. George O’Callaghan, Chief Executive of the Limerick & Clare Education and Training Board, being the nominee of all three Education and Training Boards in whose areas the TU multi-campuses are located.

The TU can have between 14 to 22 members in total on the governing body including the first President, Professor Vincent Cunnane who currently heads up Limerick Institute of Technology.

The first governing body appointed by Minister Harris is now charged with establishing and implementing the requisite election and appointment procedures to fill the remaining posts on the governing body from cohorts including undergraduate and postgraduate students, academic and non-academic staff as well as a number of additional external members.

The new governing body roles take effect from 1 October and the appointees have six months in which to fulfil the requirements necessary to form the entirety of the governing body membership.

Minister of State for Further Education and Skills Niall Collins said:

The TU Agenda

The development and progression of technological universities is an established policy objective of Government in the context of higher education landscape restructuring. It has its genesis in recommendations contained in the National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030 published in 2011.

Since the publication of the National Strategy a number of consortia of Institutes of Technology (IoTs) have with Exchequer co-funding support been progressing proposals to become TUs. The process to do so is prescribed in the Technological Universities Act 2018 which then Minister of State for Higher Education Mitchell O’Connor brought to enactment March 2018.

Under the statutory framework provided in the 2018 Act, two or more IoTs may jointly seek TU designation through a prescribed legislative process. Section 29 of the 2018 Act provides for the application jointly by two or more applicant institutes to the Minister of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science for an order seeking designation as a TU subject to their jointly meeting specified eligibility criteria. Section 38 of the 2018 Act provides that an applicant institute and an established technological university may apply to the Minister for an order.

In October 2019 the TU Research Network (TURN) high level advisory group, comprising the president of TU Dublin and all presidents of HEIs then seeking TU status and chaired by an independent UK higher education transformation expert Professor Phil Gummett, produced their seminal report ‘Technological Universities: Connectedness & Collaboration enabled by Connectivity’.

The report details the case for and requirements necessary for a state change in higher education reform in Ireland whereby TUs will assist in the delivery of national strategic objectives for regional socio-economic development, higher education access, research and skills progression.

On foot of the TURN report Government announced in Budget 2020 the provision of €90 million over the next three years under a TU Transformation Fund to support IoTs to jointly achieve TU designation and to further the advancement of established TUs. This dedicated funding is additional to the €31 million in Exchequer funding invested in TU development and progression since 2013. To date over €59 million of the Transformation Fund has been allocated to relevant HEIs through the Higher Education Authority.

The first TU in the history of the state, TU Dublin, was established on 1 January 2019 followed by the second, Munster Technological University or MTU (formerly Cork IT and IT Tralee) on 1 January 2021. The TU of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest is the third TU to be created and is a milestone for the Midlands and the Mid-West.

Two further applications for TU designation have been submitted - by the TUSEI consortium of Waterford IT and IT Carlow to the Minister on 30 April and by the Connacht Ulster Alliance of GMIT, IT Sligo and Letterkenny IT on 21 May. Both applications are progressing through the prescribed legislative assessment and decision-making process currently.

In addition, Dundalk IT and IADT Dun Laoghaire are working on trajectories to achieve TU status with the continued assistance of Exchequer funding from the TU Transformation Fund and technical advice and support provided by the Higher Education Authority.