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Paddy Leonard, 11 May
It is time to end the ‘piecemeal approach’ and instead set up a
top-level, cross-border structure to develop a new university, and
regional development plan, for the North West.
The Derry University Group has been saying we need a Marshall Plan for
more than a decade now, so it is very refreshing to see this approach
echoed by the Royal Irish Academy in its recent Irish
government-commissioned report on our grossly underdeveloped university
sector.
Everybody whose child ever took the boat across to Liverpool -
two-thirds of them never coming back - should take the time to read the
excellent new RIA paper.
Inter alia, it describes current piecemeal development practices as
‘wasteful and anachronistic’, concluding: ‘‘The relative
underinvestment in tertiary education in the greater north-west has had
major negative consequences for the development of the region.
“The rectification of this anomaly necessitates major joint affirmative
actions by the Irish and UK governments and the Northern Ireland
Executive. This should involve the development of a clear vision and
programme to enable the region to fulfil its potential and find its
niche within the economies of Northern Ireland and Ireland.
‘...Ultimately, spatial planning of tertiary education and other
development is a responsibility of governments. It is unrealistic and
unfair to delegate such planning to tertiary institutions, which will,
inevitably, have many competing pressures.’
The Academy, which co-ordinated a series of seminars in the North West
over the past two years as part of its research, identified that the
‘lack of political will’ had been ‘a key impediment’ to growth - and
echoed the view that ‘an ambitious regionally-focused strategy,
underpinned by independent expertise’ was urgently needed.
Significantly, the RIA is firmly of the opinion that any new Higher
Education ‘cluster’, or standalone university, in the North West should
be independent of Belfast and of Ulster University.
It highlights concern (alarm) that the capital is profiting at the
expense of the North West, due to ‘the disproportionate concentration
of students in Belfast (82.6 percent of the NI total), which is more
than double the figure for any of the other capital cities’.
It also warns about the ‘difficult, if not impossible’ challenges in
managing split-campus universities anchored in a capital city, such as
Ulster University: ‘...Tension is likely to arise for multi-campus
universities spread across both more affluent and disadvantaged areas,
where the priorities and external pressures relative to different
campus locations and campuses may be difficult, if not impossible, to
manage within a unitary governance structure.’
The group of three which co-ordinated the new report was chaired by
former UU Vice-Chancellor and recently-retired RIA Vice-President Gerry
McKenna. They propose that students could be encouraged and
incentivised to come to the North West as a means of restoring regional
balance.
This could, they suggest, take the form of reduced student fees or
increased student maintenance to those attending the new NWU.
They have also called for independent scrutiny of the Northern Ireland
university sector, the only HE sector on the islands without an
oversight body.
The report states: ‘It is difficult to envisage a HE oversight body
supporting the current geographically skewed distribution of HE places
or concluding that such concentration would be in the interests of
economic and cultural development or social cohesion.’
Of the two HE models considered for the region, the Academy favours a
new federal university over a HE cluster in the North West. It states:
“The development of a federal crossborder tertiary education
institution merits serious consideration.
“A federal cross-border tertiary education institution would be made up
of existing constituent institutions but with an overall governance
structure involving coordinated oversight of planning across the
region, promoting collaboration and eliminating wasteful and
unnecessary duplication. In such a scenario, each jurisdiction would
continue to be responsible for the funding of its colleges and
campuses.
‘...It is recommended, therefore, that a feasibility study examining
the options available should be commissioned by the Irish and UK
governments and the NI Executive as an important next step.’
The Derry University Group holds that a new cross-border structure,
dedicated to the development of the federal North West University, is
the next necessary move for the governments.
The RIA report is the most significant intervention in the NW
university sector - and its economic sector - in a generation.
If implemented, as it should be, the blueprint will transform both
sides of the border in the North West.
The report must be the cornerstone of every economic discussion and
development plan for the next decade.
We commend Professor McKenna and the Academy for the vision and
determination - and all those who have supported the 60 year campaign
for a university for the North West.