A FIVE year plan to bridge the Limerick Institute of Technology to the status of a technological university has been unveiled this week just ahead of works beginning at the €14m Coonagh campus development.
Unveiled to staff, stakeholders and the public, the plan, according to LIT president professor Vincent Cunnane will insure the Institute is to the forefront of the evolving Irish higher education system.
Over the next five years, the plan includes increasing the student population by 20 per cent and paves the way for the next stage in the college’s evolution.
Opting not to join the six IOT technological university consortium previously, professor Cunnane said that retaining autonomy and implementing the plan will allow LIT “move towards a different designation”.
Pictured are, LIT students, Komlan Boevi, Philip Desmond, Eibhlin O’Regan and Debbie O’Farrell with Prof. Vincent Cunnane, President LIT. Picture: Alan Place
Professor Cunnane said that during this five year period while €150 million is invested in its infrastructure, student numbers will be significantly increased.
“This is a bridge between our Institute of technology status and our declared aim to become a technological university after this plan is completed.
Increases to the general student body as well as to international, flexible learning and postgrad and taught postgrad students are “ambitious but attainable”.
Citing the unique and successful Shannon Consortium, Professor Cunnane said that this strategic plan will “reinforce the strength of the unique higher education infrastructure that we have in Limerick by building on our partnerships with UL and Mary immaculate as well as the Shannon consortium.
“The plan puts us in the vanguard of research informed higher education renews in extends our central focus on students, while in embedding a continuous improvement approach to what we do.
“Our vision is to be a leading provider of higher education that is student centred, research informed, industry relevant and accessible for all.
“We don’t judge people as they come in to us, we judge them as they leave us”, professor Cunnane said this Tuesday.
With work set to begin in two weeks on the development of the Coonagh campus, Professor Cunnane said that this was all part of a “new era of higher education at LIT” and is an expression of our values as an institution.
In his address at the Clare Street Campus, Nile Green chairman of the governing body of a LIT said that consultation process in designing the strategic plan “was deeply rooted in the key LIT value of being relevant to and engaged in the needs of the wider region that we serve.
“The objective is to be the best that we can be in serving the diverse needs of our region.”
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