Waterford University discussion

imacman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121849208#Comment_121849208

All very valid points but irrelevant, there is no common sense and future planning going on here, if there was Waterford would have a university years ago.

Dunmoreroader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121849208#Comment_121849208

That's it in a nutshell. Had the light bulb moment about a decade ago discussing Waterford City vis-a-vis Galway with a business associate based in Galway and he said " you know yer problem is you're stuck between Dublin and Galway" Of course he wasn't aware of the additional **** we have to deal with from our Southeastern brethren!

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851257#Comment_121851257

I presume he meant stuck between Dublin and Cork?

invara

Limerick is 1 hr from Cork and 1 hr from Galway, with a smaller hinterland than the SE. There was no impediment to the development of their university and RTC/IoT/TU. Maynooth is a better example- DCU, UCD, DIT and Trinity are all in spitting distance (~20 miles), and Maynooth made a full university in 1997 (from a 2,000-person seminary college, around 1/3 the size of WRTC/WIT at the time).

My tinpot thesis is that SE was economically countercyclical to the rest of Ireland- so while Cork/Limerick/Dublin were going through 7 types of hell in the 1980s, the comfortable classes in the SE were relatively okay. As a result, they did not perceive the need to remake the economy from ag/industry 1950s to the knowledge economy of the 1990s. This was reflected in bozo politics where we had a load of politicians in the SE arguing against a university— in Waterford Austin/John Deasy were prime examples of this, but Hogan, Howlin were powerful later on. Both Limerick and Cork perceived the university as an existential issue to renewing the city after the 1980s, and every pol in those parishes had a laser focus on university investment. Clear the last generation of pols in the SE did not get the memo, and are still ambivalent on the issue.

Dunmoreroader

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121851721#Comment_121851721

OOPS...YES! 😏

invara

I have stuck my head above the parapet on this issue again.....

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/03/18/government-is-failing-technological-universities-can-they-be-saved/

Dexpat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121909811#Comment_121909811

That's excellent, thanks. It's great to see it laid out exactly as it is. It has to be recognised as the disaster it is for the south east region.

914

No doubt the 9% reduction will be sold as COVID issues but with stand alone Unis up 4% that doesn't wash.

Would be interesting to see student numbers per campus over recent years

imacman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121909811#Comment_121909811

Great piece and I completely agree. Simon Harris has been telling the likes of Wexford and Thurles they are "University towns" and big investment is coming.

This is especially true in Wexford where he seems to rock up every few months to do the rounds on local media to tell them a shiny new campus with lots of new courses is on the way.

"We have a big ambition for Wexford, we want to see this campus not only lead in Wexford and not only lead in Enniscorthy, but lead the country when it comes to green and climate skills,” he said.

He is just making this stuff up as SETU has never made any indication that this is a plan. I think he is happy to go around promising the earth to everyone as he knows he won't be in government next year and won't have to follow through on any of those promises.

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121912585#Comment_121912585

I would not believe Simon Harris if he told me it was raining outside. Similarly with Stephen Donnelly.

Third level education in the south east stands on a knife edge. It may not survive at its current level. The piece by Dr. Ray Griffin of SETU Waterford in the Irish Times today was utterly devastating.

914

We'll most likely have a new minister for education in the coming weeks, all Harris's "promises" will be out the window (not that I believed any of them)

He can walk away from the mess that he has created with TUs and let someone else take the blame for lack of funding etc

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121920442#Comment_121920442

If Harris gets the gig, we are in for a tough time.

spaceCreated

https://www.thejournal.ie/simon-harris-phil-hogan-6334641-Mar2024/

When you read that Simon Harris and Phil Hogan are good friends it becomes fairly clear why we only got empty promises in the end.

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121929405#Comment_121929405

Thought exactly the same myself...as did everyone else in Waterford.

914

Possible news on the long awaited engineering building

https://twitter.com/damienwlr/status/1771549036979352011?t=zFPogPfaAI16wiK6czg6ag&s=19

Valhalla90

They will use this now as an election gift. You couldn’t make it up. Over a decade late with planning permission almost expired. Projects in Dublin/Cork fast tracked over this. Voters need to hold these failures to account!

BBM77

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932984#Comment_121932984

Agree, they will have construction work happening just in time for the election.

914

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121932972#Comment_121932972

Anyone listen today? I didn't get a chance but doubting anything was said as social media seems quiet on the matter

imacman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121938812#Comment_121938812

Had a quick run through the listen back and there seemed to be nothing on today's show. I know the planning permission for the building expires in August and if there is no start on the building on the ground, they will have to start planning again which will push this project back a few more years so may be what he is going to talk about but there was nothing about it today on the show.

imacman

If you review the discussion in this thread spanning the past few years, you'll find numerous posts expressing scepticism about the TU process and concerns that it might merely result in a rebranding without additional funding. Additionally, it has been pointed out multiple times that the merger could exacerbate issues rather than improve the situation for WIT and ITcarlow .There has always been concerns that the merged entity would underperform compared to the existing individual organizations. Now, it appears that all those predictions have sadly come true, which is predictably depressing

https://www.thejournal.ie/technological-universities-ireland-6339931-Apr2024/

Finnbar01

Looks like the TU sector is in serious trouble. The model is completely inferior. No surprises there though.

https://www.thejournal.ie/technological-universities-ireland-6339931-Apr2024/

azimuth17

We needed a university in Waterford to serve the south east and were almost there. Our neighbours would not support something sensible. Stupid politics has blown everything sky high. Mergers with WIT and Carlow IT, expansion to Wexford and Wicklow and later possibly to Kilkenny. Fine Gael politics have made a balls of things. A mess.

Dum_Dum_2

Leaving the Government's botch job of WIT aside, this region needs to made whole with a University. A full, high status institution which offers subjects most people expect, like medicine.

A logical path would be have been an upgrade to WIT, but they've failed to resource that properly. It's running to stand still.

Now the only way to make things right is a second institution - such is the hole they've dug themselves.

So I'd like to thank euro-country-manager-in-waiting Simon Harris for offering a clear path forward. Well done that man. Also, plenty of space on the North Quays for a campus.

imacman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121961811#Comment_121961811

We can't get funding for the existing organisation so the idea that they will build a new university anywhere in the southeast is a fantasy. Add to this the existing universities will completely oppose any new university as they have for the last 30 years and there is no political will or political power in Waterford to even start that process

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121962089#Comment_121962089

The political will might emerge when the reality of the mess begins to bite. We might be slow, but we're not stupid.

Next question is whether they will build the engineering block, or anything else?

Dum_Dum_2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121962089#Comment_121962089

Harris botched it. Now he needs to make it right.

As for the other Universities, if they are worried about a bit of competition then they need to up their game. Wouldn't hurt existing students and staff either, except the ones who revel in mediocrity.

imacman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121962113#Comment_121962113

There is no political will because there is no political power in Waterford and that's not going to change any time soon

Dum_Dum_2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121962188#Comment_121962188

I detect despondency.

Three ways forward:

Fight. Start with challenging last years Dail Constituency Review. It preserved 4 seats. We are owed 5. It served-up some guff about keeping country boundaries. It might be unconstitutional. Hold Harris to account about his mistakes.

Roll-over. But never complain about why this place never gets its cut. Nobody will listen.

Move. There's a whole wide world out there.

azimuth17

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121962249#Comment_121962249

How do you challenge a report of a boundary commission? High Court? Judicial Review? Money. Never complain. On the pther hand we are described as always complaining. Hold Harris to account for his mistakes? Matt Shanahan has the Dail record worn out with holding Harris to account. Read the records and the replies and then come back and tell us what you think. Broad statements of intent or otherwise and criticism such as your post are probably the worst way to undermine people's cofidence.

mart 23

Any news yet about the Vet school .