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STATEMENT BY BRIAN O'SHEA TD
& BRENDAN HOWLIN TD
Labour Party Deputies for Waterford and Wexford
BEGIN PROCESS OF UNIVERSITY STATUS FOR WIT - O'SHEA &
HOWLIN
Friday, 22 February 2008
South East Labour Party deputies, Brian O'Shea TD and
Brendan Howlin TD are calling on the Government to
immediately begin the legal process set out in the
University Act 1997 to advance the application of
Waterford Institute of Technology to be established as
the hub campus of the University of the South East. Dr
Jim Port's report which was published on Wednesday of
this week is an overwhelming endorsement of the
Waterford Institute of Technology and its application
for the full
formal process review under the University Act 1997.
Dr Port states that: "WIT has an academic maturity and
an activity
profile (degree and post graduate training, research and
scholarly
activity) which overlaps with institutions in the Irish
university
sector and other Western counties.
"WIT fulfils many of the broader roles of the university
especially in
terms of its support to regional economic and cultural
development and
knowledge transfer.
"It has the governance, management and strategic
capability required for a university coupled with an
attractive and suitable campus environment and an asset
base to permit future development."
Dr Port mentions the independent report by Professor
Robin Farquahar,
former President of Carleton University in Ottowa,
Canada who carried
out a very thorough analytical assessment and evaluation
of WIT's case
for university designation:
"Like Professor Farquahar, we approach these issues from
our own
perspective which is primarily influenced by an
extensive knowledge of
all types of university in the four countries of the
United Kingdom."
From this viewpoint rather as Professor Farquahar has
commented in
respect of Canada that the profit of WIT would not look
out of place in
a university in the UK.
Dr Port describes the Waterford Institute of Technology
application as "
a serious one" that "raises a number of issues for the
Government" but
there is nothing inherent in the application which would
argue that it
should not be considered under the existing process
which has already
been used for this purpose.
What more needs to be said. Two years have been wasted.
It is long past the time that the serious work of
arresting the enterprise, trade and
employment decline in the South East region begins.
Contact Deputy O'Shea at 087 2943292 / Deputy Howlin at
087 2314671
www.labour.ie/press
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