The Governing Body of Institute of Technology, Sligo has welcomed the decision on Wednesday by the Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan, T.D. to approve the Connacht-Ulster Alliance (CUA) application to proceed to Stage 2 of the Technological University (TU) re-designation process.
The Minister congratulated the consortium on its success in reaching Stage 2 of the process for TU designation, and wished the Connacht-Ulster Alliance the best in their future endeavours in this process.
The Chairman of the Institute’s Governing Body, Mr Ray MacSharry, described the announcement as the most significant vote of confidence to date in the ambition of the CUA.
“Since 2012, the Governing Body’s stated ambition has been to build a Technological University that will stimulate and support the development of the region and best serve its future needs,” Mr MacSharry stated. “This announcement now provides approval at national level for the CUA to pursue this goal.”
Mr MacSharry and the Governing Body paid tribute to President Vincent Cunnane and the staff of IT Sligo for their significant contribution in getting to this stage in the TU re-designation process.
Today’s announcement builds on the Institute’s recent strong showing in the influential Sunday Times Irish University Guide, which saw IT Sligo named as Runner-Up Institute of Technology of the Year for 2016.
“I also want to acknowledge the groundwork, which was done by the former President of the Institute, Professor Terri Scott, as well as the previous Governing Body members who have helped to shape our TU ambition in last number of years.”
Stage 2 of the process towards re-designation as a Technological University now involves the preparation of a plan to meet the criteria laid down by the Department of Education and Skills, Stage 3 is an evaluation of this plan by an external panel and Stage 4 is the application to become a Technological University.
“I want to thank the Taoiseach and all the public representatives in the region for their continued support since this journey started.,” Mr MacSharry added.
“There is still a significant amount of work ahead for the CUA Alliance partners. It will require the achievement of meeting challenging criteria but it is challenge which, I believe, the Connacht-Ulster Alliance can rise to and meet.”