Munster University ‘big boon to region’

The planned creation of a Munster Technological University in Cork and Tralee would have major benefits for the region, Cork Institute of Technology president Brendan Murphy has said.

The joint proposal by CIT and Institute of Technology Tralee was approved to proceed to the next stage in recent months by Education Minister Ruairi Quinn.

It is one of three mergers proposed to create a new technological university (TU) sector, as part of the Government’s higher education strategy.

A TU for the South-East, involving the amalgamation of Carlow and Waterford institutes of technology, and a Dublin TU involving a number of IoTs in the capital, are also approved to prepare more detailed applications.

While it may be some years before any of the projects are ready to be assessed by international experts, Dr Murphy said clearance to move forward with the plans will play a vital part in the recovery and future prosperity of Munster and the country.

“The creation of a new type of university will open up exciting opportunities for our students, staff, graduates, and enterprises in the Munster region,” he told a CIT conferring ceremony.

Almost 2,500 graduates from the main CIT campus, and from the constituent art, music, and maritime colleges, will receive their degrees at three ceremonies beginning yesterday and continuing until Thursday.

A CIT spokesperson said it is on course to submit more detailed plans for the application next March, although the formal merger plans have not yet been brought for approval to the governing body, which was to have happened by this month according to the submission earlier this year to the Higher Education Authority.

Mr Quinn has yet to appoint a replacement for Flan Garvey as chairman of ITT’s governing body after he stepped down early from the role in the summer.

A team of international academics is visiting ITT this month to review its validation of postgraduate research degrees for Quality and Qualifications Ireland. This follows controversy over Mr Garvey’s 2008 thesis for a masters in arts degree at the college on the history of his Co Clare parish.

Following complaints by 26 academics at the college in November, an external panel found there was extensive plagiarism in Mr Garvey’s thesis and the award of the degree was unjustified.

However, an appeal committee said such a finding was unfair as the college rules on plagiarism were not made clear to students.

Mr Garvey was also in the spotlight over more than €125,000 in expenses from the college from 2005 to 2011, far higher than any other board member but which he said were due to regular trips to and from Co Clare.