Ninth Level Ireland

“Following on from recent revelations that Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow hired two consultants to drive on the TUSE application – at €1,000 per day – without advertising the tender as per European procurement rules, the Waterford News & Star can reveal that the two colleges involved in the Munster Technological University’s application did the same thing …” (more)

[Darren Skelton, Waterford News and Star, 5 May]

“… WIT’s governing body has signed off on the application and the allegedly apocryphal statement by Phil Hogan that ‘there will be a university in the South East and the name Waterford won’t be over the door’ will come to pass. I feel our city has been politically humiliated, distanced from its peers and betrayed by Fine Gael policy over the past decade to drive it into the realms of the county towns …” (more)

[Waterford News and Star, 4 May]

“A technological university for the south east has moved a step closer after Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) and IT Carlow formally submitted an application to merge and create a new institution. The aim of the Technological University of South East Ireland consortium is that the new technological university – yet unnamed – will be established on January 1st next …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 30 April]

“Four WIT Branch Officers of the Teachers Union of Ireland have resigned in protest due to the decision of the Governing Body to proceed with the application for the Technological University of the South East, despite union members voting against the memorandum of understanding last week …” (more)

[Darren Skelton, Waterford News and Star, 30 April]

“Sinn Féin TD for Waterford David Cullinane has warmly welcomed news that Waterford Institute of Technology and IT Carlow have lodged an application to become a Technological University. Speaking this evening, Teachta Cullinane said …” (more)

[Sinn Féin, 30 April]

“The Technological University for the South East looks set to go ahead now as both governing bodies of IT Carlow and Waterford IT have approved the merger. A key meeting of Carlow’s governing body was held today where they gave the go-ahead to proceed, after Waterford did the same on Tuesday …” (more)

[WLR FM, 29 April]

““… UL is not like the TUSE, which will be spread for base political reasons and nothing else, nothing else, around this region like margarine. No one has ever suggested that UL should be merged with NUI Galway or that the UL leadership might decant to Galway as a regional university HQ, while opening up an equal sized campus in Ennis to which some of the UL faculties would be moved along the way. Why are our ambitions stitched up in the Dunnes Stores bag and made available in every county town in Ireland? …” (more)

[Waterford News and Star, 27 April]

“A technological university in the south east took a step closer today as the governing body of Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) approved the application for designation as a new-style higher education institution. The proposed technological university (TU) will involve a merger between Waterford IT and IT Carlow, whose governing body is expected to give the go-ahead to the application when it meets on Thursday …” (more)

[Katherine Donnelly, Independent, 27 April]

“The Minister of State for Further Education has said that the TUI vote at WIT rejecting the terms for the proposed new new technological university is ‘hopefully’ only a minor setback. Fianna Fail’s Niall Collins, who is the Minister of State for Skills and Further Education, said what has happened is a bit of a ‘bump on the rollercoaster’ and hopefully, the Governing bodies of both WIT and IT Carlow will be able to find a way to move the process on when they have their respective meetings this week …” (more)

[Jennifer Long, WLR FM, 26 April]

“Waterford Institute of Technology and Institute of Technology Carlow are due to meet this week to decide whether they will submit an application to form a technological university for the southeast. It follows a setback to the plan last Friday when academic staff at WIT rejected terms for its proposed merger with IT Carlow …” (more)

[Carl O’Brien, Irish Times, 25 April]

“It seems the merger of Waterford IT and IT Carlow could be facing a further setback. Members of the Teachers Union of Ireland in WIT have voted to reject the new Memorandum of Understanding for the Technological University. Those involved in the union say they have ongoing concerns and little progress has been made to reassure them …” (more)

[WLR FM, 23 April]

“… Four Simon Harris appointees to a new TU board will meet in January 2022 and decide everything. Is Waterford, the oldest city in Ireland and largest urban settlement in the South East for the past 1,000 years, to play second fiddle to Carlow town? Our Oireachtas members and Chamber of Commerce are prepared to accept this …” (more)

[Waterford News and Star, 20 April]

“The primacy of Waterford Institution of Technology (WIT) needs to be recognised in the Technological University of the South East (TUSE) equation, according to Cllr Mary Roche who set down a motion calling for clarification. The Independent Councillor’s motion, proposed to Thursday’s Plenary meeting, read, ‘That Waterford City and County Council calls on the government to clarify the funding and configuration arrangements for their proposed Technological University before dissolving Waterford Institute of Technology’ …” (more)

[Claire Quinn, Waterford News and Star, 15 April]

“… The biggest delay of all has hit the long awaited new engineering building at WIT. This was first announced in 2009 and was ready to go until cancelled at the last minute in 2011. Ten years later all that remains of that ambition is a blank site on the Cork Road. In the headlong political rush to create a TUSE, it has again surfaced …” (more)

[Waterford News and Star, 13 April]

“At todays Waterford City and County Council Plenary meeting a motion that I had submitted in January was finally debated and passed unanimously. The motion read ‘That Waterford City and County Council calls on the government to clarify the funding and configuration arrangements for their proposed Technological University before dissolving Waterford Institute of Technology’ …” (more)

[Cllr Mary Roche, 9 April]

“Funding for Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) has more than doubled since 2018, according to figures provided in the Dáil by the Minister for Further Education. Asked about the capital expenditure the Government has committed to spending across higher education until 2027 under Project Ireland 2040, Minister Harris provided figures which showed that funding for WIT increased from €1.1 million in 2018 to over €3 million in 2020 …” (more)

[Jade Wilson, Waterford News and Star, 7 April]

“A €1,000-a-day job at the new Technological University of the South East was filled without regard to proper procurement procedures, which are supposed to apply to all positions over €25,000. Tom Boland was announced as executive director of the Technological University of the South East consortium by Higher Education Minister Simon Harris last July …” (more)

[Darren Skelton, Irish Examiner, 31 March]

“WIT will now be home to the Walton Institute for Information and Communication Systems Science. The research wing of Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) is evolving. TSSG (Telecommunications Software and Systems Group) has been focused on ICT research at WIT since 1996. But now, this group is transitioning into the Walton Institute for Information and Communication Systems Science …” (more)

[Sarah Harford, Silicon Republic, 24 March]

“… Why is everything around TUSE so opaque? Can government ever just make a direct announcement in favour of Waterford city? Not while politicians from Wexford or Kilkenny are in power? We have been burned often enough to be wary lest the site becomes the grave of Waterford’s final separation from the other cities of Ireland. ‘Announcements’ about its purchase for WIT were recently imminent, but vanished like the snow of a few weeks ago, without trace. Why is everything around TUSE so opaque? …” (more)

[Waterford News and Star, 16 March]

“An application for the Technological University of the South East (TUSE) is set to be formally lodged on April 28th. The proposed merger of Waterford Institute of Technology and IT Carlow is set to have a significant campus in Wexford, according to Senator Malcolm Byrne. The project has been interrupted by COVID-19 as well as significant political tensions in recent weeks regarding the location of its headquarters …” (more)

[Jordan Norris, Munster Express, 16 March]