UNIVERSITY of Limerick is to have a new direct entry medical course, it was announced this Friday (October 18).
It has not been announced how many places will be available in the new course, but it is understood it will be in the region of 30. It will be the first such course to be available to students outside of Dublin.
Making the announcement at Plassey House in on the University of Limerick’s Castletroy campus, as hundreds of second level students arrived for the UL open day, Minister for Further and Higher Education Patrick O’Donovan described it as “an historic day” and a “game changer” in terms of rural access to education.
The UL course was part of an announcement of a major increase in healthcare places in Ireland through the creation of six new programmes.
Funding of €130million unlocked from the National Training Fund will support the growth of key healthcare disciplines, addressing critical workforce shortages and enhancing healthcare education across the country.
Asked by the Limerick Post whether recent financial controversies which have shaken the university are likely to have an influence on the offering of the new course, the Minister said he does not believe that to be the case.
“What I have seen at UL is … a committed leadership that is working well through my department … and a transformed agenda in the way they do their business. This announcement today is a vote of confidence in the university going forward,” he said.
As part of this initiative, following recommendations from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), several universities will establish new programmes in areas of medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry.
The locations include the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), which will receive support for a new Bachelor of Dental Surgery, and will train students in a community-based model of dental education.
This programme will provide 20 new dentistry places a year for Irish/EEA students from 2025 onwards.
Atlantic Technological University, South East Technological University, and University of Galway will each introduce new pharmacy programmes, doubling the number of pharmacy training programmes in Ireland.
At full roll-out this will provide more than 150 additional pharmacy graduates per year.
University of Galway will also introduce a Rural and Remote Graduate Entry Medicine Stream, aimed at addressing the shortage of general practitioners in rural Ireland. At full roll-out this will provide 48 additional medicine places per year.
University of Limerick will launch a direct entry medicine programme.
Minister O’Donovan said that the new programmes “truly have the potential to revolutionise our higher education landscape and provide more opportunities for students to follow their passions in healthcare and medicine”.
“And I’m pleased to say we are not finished – this is only the first round of development.
“My officials are working with the HEA and the higher education sector to progress further expansion to meet the needs of the public sector and the nation.”
Acting UL President Professor Shane Kilcommins welcomed the announcement, saying that “this significant development underscores the university’s pivotal role in the region and our unwavering commitment to advancing education and healthcare”.
“University of Limerick has long been a beacon of excellence in the health sciences, and this new expansion in the delivery of undergraduate medicine is a testament to our dedication to innovation and quality in education.”
He noted that “the introduction of this course comes at a crucial time when the need for doctors in the workforce has never been greater”.
