Last week, DkIT unveiled plans to commence a structured development pathway with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) in progression towards and realisation of established TU status. The TUTF funding will support these plans and will help the institute to accelerate the delivery of targeted work-packaged aimed at meeting critical eligibility criteria outlined in the Technological Universities Act 2018. Work-packages include:

• Increasing the intake of postgraduate research students at levels 9 and 10 to meet 4% TU target;
• Supporting 45% of academic staff to secure a level 10 or equivalent professional qualification;
• Implementing dedicated support structures to boost the competitiveness and sustainability of the research agenda;
• Investing in digital teaching and learning infrastructure to enrich the learner experience within the institute;
• Improving the Further Education (FE) to Higher Education (HE) progression possibilities for our region, thereby opening up HE to a larger proportion of our region’s population;

Speaking today, DkIT President, Michael Mulvey, PhD said,

“I welcome the allocation of €760,000 to support our plan to boost DkIT’s readiness to become a Technological University in the near future. On behalf of the institute, I would like to express my appreciation to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and the HEA for their continued support. As articulated in our new Strategic Plan 2020-22, DkIT is firmly committed to becoming a Technological University and we have now embarked on a structured pathway to help us achieve this. Today’s announcement demonstrates the confidence that the Minister and the HEA have in our commitment and capacity to deliver this for the North Leinster South Ulster region.”

DkIT recently established an institute-wide Steering Committee, led by Dr Tim McCormac, Head of Research & Graduate Students at DkIT which will oversee the delivery of DkIT’s commitments included within the structured pathway towards TU status.

Speaking today, Dr McCormac added, 

“The TUFT funding announcement comes at a critical time for the institute as we commence an intense period of work aimed at fast-tracking our ambition to become a university. New funding will significantly enhance our ability to build research and innovation capacity within our leading research domains, one of the key pillars in the TURN report. In addition, the funding will sustain our work with our NEFHEA consortium partners to enable FE to HE provision within our region. I would like to particularly thank Orla Lynch, our Research Office Manager, who worked closely on this submission with myself. I look forward to working with both staff and students from across the Institute to deliver on the proposed strategic pathway” 

The TUTF is a new €90 million fund (over 3 years) from the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, to be allocated by the Higher Education Authority (HEA), to assist the development and progression of technological universities. Today’s announcement relates to the Year 1 funding allocation for eligible HEI’s. DkIT will received €0.66m in Q4 2020 and the remaining €0.10m will be received in Q1 2021.