WIT steps back from planned university merger process

Waterford Institute of Technology will not take part in a process to try to put merger plans with its Carlow counterpart back on track for a joint technological university application.

A week after Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan appointed former Higher Education Authority chairman Michael Kelly to lead consultations at WIT and IT Carlow, the larger college has decided not to take part.

The governing body wants to explore alternative options with the Department of Education and HEA instead for achieving a technological university for the South-East, claiming that a merged institution would not be capable of reaching the required academic and other standards in the next five years at least.