THE LONG ROAD TO TRALEE’S UNIVERSITY TOWN TRIUMPH
As Institute of Technology Tralee and C.I.T secure joint university status Simon Brouder looks at how the historic day came to pass
THE announcement last month that the Insitute of Technology in Tralee had been given permission to merge with it’s counterpart in Cork to form Ireland’s newest university was an historic day for the county.
The fruit of over a decades work the merger of ITT and Cork Institute of Technology to form the Munster Technological University will provide an enormous economic boost to Tralee and Kerry and greatly improve Kerry’s offering when it attracting foreign investment.
The road to the MTU has been a long one and dates back to the late 1970’s when –after years of campaigning by local business, political and educational figures – the Government of the day approved the creation of third level college in Kerry.
Thus Tralee Regional Technical College – one of several such institutes being opened around teh country at the time – opened its doors to students in 1977.
Initially the RTC shared a home the vocational school in Clash eventually moving into its own premises in what is currently ITT’s South Campus facility in Clash in 1986 with an enrolment of about 1,000 students.
In 1992 as was the case with all of Ireland’s RTCs the college became an autonomous Institute of Technology and IT Tralee was born.
The college’s rapid growth continued and it was soon apparent that a larger campus would be required to house the Institute. A large greenfield site was acquired at Dromtacker on Tralee’s northern outskirts and in the late 1990’s worr began on what would become ITT’s North Campus.
That opened in 2001 and the expansion of the college soon resulted in an explosion in student numbers and in the variety of courses on offer.
Kerry Technology Park also opened in 2001 and the two facilities on neighbouring sites developed a close working relationship and their fruitful cooperation soon made the Dromthacker area the centre of economic and technical innovation in the county.
In the mid to late 2000’s discussions began about a root and branch transformation of the third level sector and the creation of the new technological universities to replace the country’s 13 IT’s.
In January 2014, the then Education Minister, Ruairí Quinn, introduced the Technological Universities Bill which set out the Government’s legislative approach to merging the existing institutes of technology.
IT Tralee and CIT were among the first to express interest in the plans and when the Minister introduced the bill six years ago the Kerry and Cork colleges were named as one of three IoT consortiums that were already working on a mergers plans.
Formally established in January 2019 the tecnological University of Dublin – the result of the amalgamation of Dublin Institute of Technology, Institute of Technology, Blanchardstown, and Institute of Technology, Tallaght – was the first TU to open.
ITT and CIT had hoped to follow quickly in Dublin’s footsteps – planning to enrol students in to the new MTU by September 2019.
But last July they suffered a significant setback when an international advisory panel set up to examine the Kerry Cork merger plan found serious problems with the process.
In its report the panel said the college’s merger plan had a “lack of clear vision and strategy” and “leaves questions unanswered regarding the specifics of how the two applicant institutions are to become one”.
IT Tralee’s outstanding debts of €10million and the “strained relationship” between senior management and the academic staff unions were also cited as an issues of concern.
The report was seen as a hammer blow to the merger plan and threatened to derail the process entirely
Management of IT Tralee and CIT were given just six months to resolve the panels concerns and prepare a report for Eduction Minister Joe McHugh proving the case for the college’s merger and the creation to the MTU.
The deadline to prepare the report – which had been recommended by the international panel – was seen as extraordinarily tight with the Chairman of the Higher Education Authority Michael Horgan, telling Minister McHugh the timeframe was “too ambitious” and calling for it to be extended.
While doubtless anxious about the future their merger proposal the MTU consortium immediately set to the task at and months of work followed.
Those months of hard graft paid off and at the end of March the college’s presented their report – exactly on schedule to the Minister.
An anxious two month wait followed and on May 26, a few days earlier than expected – the news the county had been waiting for arrived Kerry had it’s university.
Ahead of the announcement expectations were high and positive murmurs from the Department suggested good news was imminent.
Even so the suddenness of the announcement took many by surprise.
First announced that morning in Cork by Tánaiste Simon Coveney the news quickly reached Kerry leading to something of a commotion among ITT’s management team – working from home due to the Coronavirus lockdown – as they scrambled to prepare and release a response to the historic news.
The Chair of IT Tralee’s Governing Body Lionel Alexander neatly summed up what the news meant for the two institutes and their counties.
“The two institutes share an ethos of excellence, an ambition to serve the needs of our communities, and a vision of higher education provision that is innovative, responsive, entrepreneurial and forward-looking.
“The new Technological University will grow from the foundations laid down by CIT and ITT.
“MTU will be the first regionally based Technological University in Ireland. Our ambition is to have a lasting positive impact economically, socially and culturally on the South-West region and beyond; and our values will guide our relationships with students, with staff, our partners and the wider community of stakeholders”.
Meanwhile the huge importance of a new university to the development of the region was emphasised by newly installed President of IT Tralee, Dr Brendan O’Donnell.
“This is a time of unprecedented challenge for the region, Ireland and the world. MTU will play a leadership role in the strategic development of the South-West region as we work towards national and global recovery.
“The availability of a skilled professional workforce is essential to the creation of Irish companies and in attracting new companies to locate in Ireland. A
“As a new university, MTU will develop and enhance curricula and research opportunities through stakeholder engagement ensuring that the changing demands of regional enterprise, the professions, and the community are realised.”
In its 43 year history the Tralee college has helped shape Kerry. With University status now secured one can only imagine what the next forty years hold in store for the MTU and for education in the Kingdom.