The Big Bad Amalgamation Scare

brendanL

Alright so I heard during summer 2009 that ITB may be amalgamated with DIT, this then seemed to be swept under a rug for the majority of last year,
all of a sudden it's being talked about again... so I thought we should have some place to talk it out/post latest news and so on.

I myself am scared ****less by the thought of it, but maybe I'll manage to get my course finished before it happens.. who knows?

Also I wonder what affect this would have on the societies/clubs/students union? or even what courses will be run where? this may be one hellova bad thing or a good thing? no real details or explanations on the direct implications have been revealed... or can be found to my knowledge so if anyone has an interesting link on this post away ;D

All I know is i roll out of bed and into ITB.... I don't think that'd work if I had to travel to DIT or tallaght

KonFusion

The Big Bad Amalgamation Scare? Why is it bad? Why is it a scare? and are you getting any info that isn't word of mouth? :P

You wouldn't have to travel anywhere. I highly doubt they would close down any part of ITB. The amalgamation would allow them to benefit from economies of scale, and cut costs. They'd lose money, put people out of work, and create a huge strain on the current DIT. Also there are still several plans to build on to ITB, and with so much space for development, the college will surely just get bigger over the next number of years.

Think of it in terms of software. 3 places buy 3 software(s) and pay for 3 licences. 1 place buys 1 software and pays for one licence. It's still used by all 3 places, just they only have to get one....u get me :P (saw that example somewhere...though can't remember and I'm prob paraphrasing ha)

But anyway, they wont close ITB, and even if they did, it'd take several years to finish. They couldn't just close up one day and knock the place down.

I think of it as the way All Hallows is a part of DCU, yet it is its own independent college, with it's own student union etc etc. But when you get your degree, you get a DCU Degree.

I see no problem in getting my degree from DIT instead of ITB :P

As for courses; If anything we'd get more.

I wouldn't see it as a problem at all. But I guess people don't like change.

Block G Raptor

KonFusion wrote: »

The Big Bad Amalgamation Scare? Why is it bad? Why is it a scare? and are you getting any info that isn't word of mouth? :P

You wouldn't have to travel anywhere. I highly doubt they would close down any part of ITB. The amalgamation would allow them to benefit from economies of scale, and cut costs. They'd lose money, put people out of work, and create a huge strain on the current DIT. Also there are still several plans to build on to ITB, and with so much space for development, the college will surely just get bigger over the next number of years.

Think of it in terms of software. 3 places buy 3 software(s) and pay for 3 licences. 1 place buys 1 software and pays for one licence. It's still used by all 3 places, just they only have to get one....u get me :P (saw that example somewhere...though can't remember and I'm prob paraphrasing ha)

But anyway, they wont close ITB, and even if they did, it'd take several years to finish. They couldn't just close up one day and knock the place down.

I think of it as the way All Hallows is a part of DCU, yet it is its own independent college, with it's own student union etc etc. But when you get your degree, you get a DCU Degree.

I see no problem in getting my degree from DIT instead of ITB :P

As for courses; If anything we'd get more.

I wouldn't see it as a problem at all. But I guess people don't like change.

No One is talking about closing the college. what would happen is that some courses from ITB would be moved to say tallaght other courses from tallaght would be moved to ITB. So say ITB would be solely for Social care and Tallaght would be Solely Computing or engineering etc. So You'd have the computing / engineering students from blanch and tallaght together and so on

Drodan

And us poor sports gits out on our own somewhere :eek:

brendanL

Block G Raptor wrote: »

No One is talking about closing the college. what would happen is that some courses from ITB would be moved to say tallaght other courses from tallaght would be moved to ITB. So say ITB would be solely for Social care and Tallaght would be Solely Computing or engineering etc. So You'd have the computing / engineering students from blanch and tallaght together and so on

That moving courses around is exactly what I'm afraid of. I'm used to ITB and my lecturers... new scene will just be hassle in my opinion... also bigger classes can't possibly be a good thing.

Oh and that 1 thing of software for three places was originally posted by Tom Dunne in another colleges forum here on boards where they were speculating similiar amalgamation things.

Xios

I'm overly confident that this plan will not affect current students at all in the slightest. Perhaps future ones.

Think about it, if computing got moved to tallaght, then every student in that course is either gonna have to commute from blanch or move to tallaght, or just change their commuting plan (if the live elsewhere). It'd **** up everyones lives.

brendanL

yeah I guess so, lecturer's also seem very un-interested in the matter... I guess they believe it's just not going to happen that quickly if at all.

kenon

It was just a suggestion along with many in the an Bord Snip nua report by Colm McCarthy to make Tallaght IT and Blanch IT part of DIT to save...I think it was €2 million a year.

I don't think it has moved along since "suggestion" status and I would be surprised if it does go anywhere.

dueyfinster

+1

Totally in favour. I'd create supercolleges in fact. One North Dublin (DKIT, ITB, DIT, DCU, NCIRL, Maynooth etc etc), one South (TCD, UCD, ITT, DLIT). Then cities, Waterford (WIT), Cork (UCC, CIT), Limerick (UL and MaryI), Galway (NUIG), Kilkenny (merge ITC in). Maybe let Athlone and Sligo keep themselves if lucky

I call it: THE MASS MERGE! It'd be based on US model where they can have up to 50,000 students per location. What it'd bring:

* Better campuses
* Economies of scale
* Better recognised internationally
* Research in each location
* More competitive with larger countries

:eek:

donfarrell

First I've heard of this :pac:

I personally would like this to happen
That is if it goes ahead before i graduate as I would much prefer a degree that says DIT on it than ITB just for peace of mind more than anything

But I'd say it won't happen until that new DIT campus is built though, that would make more sense tbh :rolleyes:

Xrox

dueyfinster wrote: »

+1

Totally in favour. I'd create supercolleges in fact. One North Dublin (DKIT, ITB, DIT, DCU, NCIRL, Maynooth etc etc), one South (TCD, UCD, ITT, DLIT). Then cities, Waterford (WIT), Cork (UCC, CIT), Limerick (UL and MaryI), Galway (NUIG), Kilkenny (merge ITC in). Maybe let Athlone and Sligo keep themselves if lucky

I call it: THE MASS MERGE! It'd be based on US model where they can have up to 50,000 students per location. What it'd bring:

* Better campuses
* Economies of scale
* Better recognised internationally
* Research in each location
* More competitive with larger countries

:eek:

Mary I and UL are already one college and have been for years, i also think UL has made moves to take over LIT or they part own it.

In the UL and Mary I case the courses stayed mostly on their respective campus's Teaching and Arts in Mary I and everything else in UL, but any moves were done over years. This Merger of the two allowed Mary I students to avail of the vast resources in UL that they didnt have in Mary I i.e. the 7 storey library and the 50m pool and the other multimillion euro sports facilities indoor/outdoor, oh and the pubs on ULs campus (also allowed them to play sports for the bigger clubs in UL if they wanted).

Course maybe moved but i see it happening over years, as in Computing would no longer be offer on the CAO by ITB and the student that were there would finish out their time in ITB, likewise an engineering course could be phased out in this wat from ITT.

In the North the University of Ulster all come under the same banner but have completely separate campus's and courses i.e. UUJ, UUM, UUC with no loss in quality or quantity of course offered in each college.

Snowie

with bigger colleges

comes more people, more facilitys more diversity (more hot chicks) and possibly a pub

brendanL

Snow-Monkey wrote: »

with bigger colleges

comes more people, more facilitys more diversity (more hot chicks) and possibly a pub

I like your logic

Late Student

Lot's were saying it at the open evening but is it likely to really happen and when? Are they saying that just to get the Students to pick ITB, using it as some sort of carrot.

KonFusion

Thread merged.

Drodan

http://www.itb.ie/newsevents/newsdetail.asp?Item=1564

donfarrell

no date?
so this could be in like 10 years?

brendanL

Just read it there myself and decided to see if anyone on the boards had noticed. Personally my opinion hasn't changed much on this matter.. how can three buildings so greatly separated by distance be considered one college. Will lecturers be expected to teach in two or three different campuses in one day and will students be expected to attend lectures on different campuses ...surely not in the same day but at least in the same week.

I know the administration factor such as licenses still makes a lot of sense.. but it's not the only factor here. If we have one name will we have one student union.. with good representation in one branch and a sheer lack of representation in another.. also will societies be forced to disband as three societies for the same thing will not receive funding and so one will reign supreme while the ones in other branchs fall by the way side.

To be honest I can't see the societies being removed or student unions as it'd just be a pain in the arse. But I've been wrong before... maybe I'm lucky to be in my final year having said that... I don't think this is happening any time soon.. but it is happening.

Also should our opinions.. ie the students not of been considered???? I mean the college is here because we choose to attend it. How can you sign something and not explain to the people it affects exactly how it affects each branch or college. Having said that it does say 'alliance' which tends to suggest a bit of a removal from the amalgamation talk. ie we keep our names but were all TUD.... it sounds like they trying to slowly inch towards the amalgamation. As it also says.. that research will be done and it will then be decided whether the 'alliance' should go ahead.... surely you can do that research without pledging to go ahead and become something???? Seems awfully suspicious if that's the case.

Drodan

Hey my main concern is I've spent 3 years setting up an ITB Ultimate team and now I finally have one I don't want to see it blended in with two other colleges.

With the different buildings argument, I'm sure it'll just end up the same as DIT is atm. Something like ITB campus would be used for engineering and the likes, ITT for humanities and DIT buildings for business. That or it won't happen till grangegorman (sp) is finish/even started and we'd all be in the same place.

If it means the degree will be looked upon more favourably by employers then I'm all for it.