Report Paul Murphy
The announcement that Dundalk Institute of Technology and Queens University Belfast are to enter a partnership to establish University College Dundalk would have been very difficult to make in the past because of obstacles politically and educationally, a former president of the Dundalk college has said. Denis Cummins, who was president for 10 years and is currently president and Dean of Faculty at CCT College Dublin, said that the move is an indication of changing times on the island of Ireland. He said that the link-up opened up all kinds of opportunities including that Dkit could be listed on UCAS. (UK version of CAO).
“This is a really significant development for Dkit and the North East region. Dkit has been operating on the upper end of the higher education spectrum for a long time and has been a university in all but name – and names matter – so it is great to see this finally recognised. The model intended for Institutes of Technology to gain university standing was the Technological University but this didn’t fit well with Dundalk for a number of reasons but mainly geographical.
There were no other ITs in the region unlike Munster or South East etc. Dundalk’s sphere of influence was always along the Dublin-Belfast corridor and the arrangement with Queens makes perfect sense”. Mr Cummins said he warmly congratulated Diarmuid O’Callaghan and everyone who made this happen.
