Waterford University discussion

Huzzah!

We need to see if the final scope is reduced, and price/years jacked up. Around 20 years after first announced, it looks like it will be open around 2027/8.

Borrowing comes from a crazy political wheeze at the time of Irish Water. Traditionally WIT could borrow, and did, amassing around €50m in student accomodation and service assets, all with a decent income. This borrowing started in 1992 (17 pounds to build the college fields buildings), and then manor village- all was accelerated and paid off quickly. The arena was a hot mess with lower income, and govt intervented to halt construction. Despite loads of investigations by PAC, none of this spending went wrong, and did anything other than benefit students.

At the time, the Irish Water decision meant that if 50% of the income was from the Govt the debt sat on the national accounts. This was applied sectorally- so even through WIT was below 50% Govt support, it was thrown into the IoT sector and considered state borrowing, and the universities were sectorally below 50% Govt sourced income- but some were almost all Govt funded. From memory less than 30% of Maynooths income was private sources but they could borrow (and did wildly to fund a four fold growth from 2005-2020). Very unfair.

Both the university act and the TU/IoT acts mention that the minister can put in place a borrowing framework. From PQs it is clear the Govt have only a half assed knowledge of the university borrowing, but use the 'borrowing framework' terminology to prevent the TUs from borrowing. All TUs apart from Grangegorman/TUD, which has its own special act, and borrowing framework. So, there it is, political decision to hold us back.

A very interesting oddity is the Govt loan to Tralee and Waterford- Tralee has never been sought to repay, and WIT, now SETU still pays around 700k back a year for Carriganore. We had zero political protection in Govt, for the past 20 years, best exampled by the different treatments of theses loans.

<Thanks for coming to my TEDtalk>

... Why... No definitive answer.

A mix of reasons. A core in Dept feel we destabilised the system by applying for university status. A handful of absolute crazies ( those behind dismounting the leadership and various witch hunts). They wanted to use WIT as a cautionary tail.

Other strategic opponents (universities, city-regions) watched it unfold.

Very disloyal locals - some political parties offered no top cover ( look at how Cork looks after UCC), others actively did in WIT leadership (misguided or building own political capital..). We have got better at communicating to our politicians, framing what is needed.

New Year, New Thoughts on SETU

It looks like progress on SETU has restarted, with two new marquee courses in Veterinary and Pharmacy. Although these courses have low enrollment numbers, they offer high value and prestige. Additionally, the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) was approved, marking the commencement of the first new teaching building since the T&L building in 1998/99—a span of 25-30 years. As well as this, the deep retrofit of the 1969 building looks like it is going ahead. So, it appears that the long winter for old WIT is finally over.

These developments are heartening, but at a practical level, they merely stabilise the existing platform and do not tackle the core challenge: halting the brain drain through large expansion- the Waterford campus needs to effectivly double undergrad numbers and quadroople postgrads. This is entirely feasible, as it is exactly what Maynooth achieved between 2007-2015, and what UL did at a slower pace. The numbers for Level 8 degrees have remained broadly static since 2005, and SETU must win over more of the middle class, who still compare it unfavorably to Cork, Limerick, and Dublin. We know that around 50% of prospective students from certain schools in our catchment do not fully consider what SETU has to offer; however, those who do are generally satisfied with their choice, and have equal career outcomes.

To achieve the growth necessary to halt the brain drain, SETU requires university-level funding. Currently, it is the third best-funded TU in sector, and TU funding lags about 25-30% behind traditional universities in like-for-like activities. Additional funding is required for new initiatives—courses (medicine and teaching have to be next on the hit list- both have prestige and larger numbers), career progression pathways for jobbing academics, research institutes, teaching and research buildings, and student housing.

The question now is: having secured some of the original 2007 requests, what should the priority requests be, and how should we shape the ask? As the years dragged on with little growth or progress, ourfocus narrowed to an eight-year-long drumbeat for new courses and the PPP. With some of these foundational goals now met, it's time to broaden the vision and set new political demands for SETU's future.

Where is the engineering building going?

Engineers on campus this morning marking out the site of the new building on the ground. Also, the sign about the development is being setup . Looks like it is actually going to happen at last

I’ve said this a few times on SE Radio, but it’s worth repeating: I just don’t see DPER approving a €60 million investment for a large, out-of-town campus with an open-ended financial commitment. The project was first proposed in 2011, and in 14 years, it has made no real progress—meaning Wexford has lost valuable time and momentum waiting for something that hasn’t materialised.

A more viable path forward would be a phased approach: I believe DPER could support an initial investment of €15–20 million for a campus in Wexford town, with further development following as success is demonstrated. There’s a keen awareness in both DPER and DFERIS of past lessons—such as the Tipp Institute, which received €100 million in 1998 but struggled to sustain student numbers (I think the max recruitment was 300), and Maynooth’s Kilkenny campus, which ultimately didn’t take off. Many other small campuses have faced similar challenges.

Wexford absolutely deserves and needs access to higher education. But for that to happen, there must be a realistic, well-thought-out plan—one that ensures long-term success rather than relying on a high-risk, all-or-nothing approach.

Some good news https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/wexford-district/setus-wexford-campus-facing-major-delays-following-legal-challenge-to-compulsory-purchase-of-site/a1565145141.html

This will kick the can down the road for another few years in Wexford.Plus I heard signage for new bulding was to go up a few weeks ago but has being delayed, should be up soon though

Disinformation at its finest!!

Every academic knows that arguments must be supported by evidence and hard facts. Re “80% of first year Wexford students transferring to Carlow” is absurd. From my knowledge most years there are zero transfers and occasionally, there may be one or two at most.

Any word on the engineering building, contractors were expected on site in Q1 to start works, we are now in May and no sign of any work starting.

Finally!

And to make it worse they will celebrate this building as a victory and how SETU enabled them to deliver this building.

https://www.wlrfm.com/news/waterford-crystal-transformation-884008?fbclid=IwY2xjawK049RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHqWseifN1Zn86zOOmn27QLQ8nmdVmSN793l3pH6b7RIj9ow2YfT4o6eFKeF0_aem_ySIMcTTxLZnkoGfQyQk2vw&sfnsn=wa

A bit from WLR

My neighbour tells me that back in the 1980s when government treatment of Waterford was at an all time low, the 1981 general was won by the Worker's Party candidate because of a song "Four dummies in the Dail, tra la la la". Will that be revisited?

Meanwhile, up in Carlow; https://www.setu.ie/news/setu-officially-opens-state-of-the-art-corporate-services-building-in-carlow