Student health and wellbeing at heart of exciting new developments at MTU
President of MTU Prof Maggie Cusack with Jennifer O’Connor Mount St Michael Roscarbery and Maeve McGrath, St Mary’s Midleton at the Faculty of Engineering & Science MTU IWish campus programme for female transition year students from Cork City and County.
Cutting edge new courses and state-of-the-art facilities are coming on stream at Munster Technological University (MTU) this coming academic year.
Speaking to The Irish Examiner, MTU President, Professor Maggie Cusack, said it is an exciting time for the university, its students and staff.
Professor Cusack highlighted a number of building works across campuses in Cork and Kerry, adding to the facilities already on offer at MTU in both counties.
“There’s been a lot of building work on the MTU Arena on the Bishopstown Campus,” she explained. “Obviously, construction was forced to halt because of Covid, but now that is almost complete at phase one.
“We have funding for phase two as well, so that’s a really important development. Phase two secured funding of €9.225m under the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media LSSIF (Large Scale Sports Infrastructure Fund).
“Having really good sports facilities is so important for the health and wellbeing of our students and staff,” she added. “It’s also really important for the community as well as research.”
Professor Cusack also highlighted MTU’s plans for a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) building on the Kerry North Campus, and a new learning resource centre on the Bishopstown Campus.
“They will really help us to move our facilities on and allow us to provide state-of-the-art facilities,” she said. “The STEM building is at the enabling works stage so it’s great to see that at the first stages.
“There is certainly some positive news in terms of new buildings and it’s obvious to anyone passing by our campuses,” she added.
As well as new facilities, MTU has a number of new courses coming on stream for the 2022/23 academic year.
“We have more than 120 courses and there are more coming on stream,” said Professor Cusack, highlighting a few examples. “Smart Product Engineering is a great new course with a four year degree and work placement opportunities.
“That’s really for students who are keen to combine their technical ability with business skills to see those gaps in the market and fill them,” she explained. “We also have Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering coming on stream in our Kerry Campus, and I think this really highlights what technological universities have to offer.
“It’s a four-year Bachelors of Engineering honours degree. The first two years are full-time on campus in Kerry, and the last two years are actually paid work placement.
“That’s just a number of new courses we have available,” she added.
While new courses and new facilities might be coming on stream, Professor Cusack explained that MTU’s philosophy of ensuring a student-centred approach with industry needs in mind has not changed.
“We continue to ensure that our students are at the centre of absolutely everything we do,” she said. “We’re very proud of the broad range of disciplines we have on offer from science, engineering, business, cultural courses and arts and more.
“We’ve a really broad range, right from Level 6 to Level 10, including apprenticeships
“We’re delighted with our industry placements as well and how our students go on work placements and engage with the companies,” she added. “Our statistics show that more than 20 percent of our students graduate with a job in the same company they had their work placement in. Our high level of industry engagement and collaboration leads to really high employability of our graduates.”
In another exciting development for the third level institute, MTU, along with the other technological universities, has received funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan to examine the role of blended learning during the pandemic and how to use it in the future.
“It’s something we’re really enthusiastic about,” said Professor Cusack. “It’s really about us leading out and building Ireland’s resilience and we’re doing that through the deployment of a national programme to engage learners across society.
“It’s about gaining knowledge and competencies around sustainability in learning, particularly with the climate in mind.
“It’s a great opportunity to build on the learning from the pandemic and allow for the inclusion of that digitally-supported service,” she added. “We have to think about how we use our digital technology to support access and allow more people to access this education, upskilling and reskilling.
“It doesn’t have to be the traditional system that it was before Covid. It’s about using digital and in-person hand-in-hand giving people more flexibility and that’s really important for enhancing inclusion.”
While it is looking to the future, MTU continues to be mindful of the fact that students and staff have endured two very difficult years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Professor Cusack explained.
“We are really mindful of the challenges that our students, and indeed our staff, have faced over the past two years or so,” she said. “With that in mind, we do have a free student counselling service available with one-to-one and group support available.
“We’re making sure that we’re offering them support as well as opportunities to get involved in the MTU community in terms of our clubs, societies and students union initiatives and campaigns.
“Our access service as well does great work in reaching out to members of under-represented groups not just to come to MTU but to thrive here,” she added. “That’s what it’s all about, creating that environment where students feel supported in reaching for that success and thriving.”
MTU recently hosted its first in-person conferring ceremony for graduates, including those who missed out on the occasion in 2021.
“We had a really wonderful celebration, really acknowledging everyone’s hard work in very difficult circumstances,” explained Professor Cusack. “We had the conferring ceremonies in a blended fashion with some students on campus and some streaming in.
“A lot of our international students commented on how much they appreciated that because their families and friends were able to watch it live,” she added.
With almost two years under its belt, MTU is already becoming a leader in terms of industry and community engagement, as well as employability. Looking to the future, Professor Cusack said that is something the university is very keen to build upon.
“Succeeding together is our aim at MTU and there are many strands to that. Working with local businesses, associations, charities and more is really important as it ensures we are involved in the community,” she said. “There’s opportunities for our students to engage with all types of businesses and organisations that really do strengthen our community links.
“We also allow access to our sporting facilities, which I think is a big thing for community involvement,” she added. Professor Cusack highlighted MTU’s work with Cork Education and Training Board and the Irish Prison Service as a prime example of working with community and industry leaders to succeed together.
“MTU are also involved with Cork ETB and the Irish Prison Service, providing a course on culinary skills for prisoners,” she explained. “Some have been released from prison and have found jobs in the culinary sector as a result of the course so this is a really good news story.
“It’s about using education to provide the opportunities to change lives and this is just one of the many examples of that,” she added. “It really highlights the importance of allowing for inclusion and access to education and the opportunities that this provides.”
With the hospitality sector crying out for staff at the moment, it also highlights MTU’s ability to plug gaps in industries, something MTU will continue to do, Professor Cusack explained.
“We have proven time and again our capability in providing people who are ready to make the move to the workplace and fill those gaps.
“We’re currently developing our strategy for the coming years and we’re liaising with our external stakeholders to ensure that what we are providing is completely relevant to the work environment, that we are supporting the economy and communities.”
To find out more, head to www.mtu.ie.
