€4.5 million has been announced to support universities in regional locations of the country, with the bulk of the funding – €3.5 million – going to institutions in the northwest.
The three northwestern universities are Atlantic Technological University (ATU), Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) and the University of Galway.
ATU is set to receive over €2.6 million, while TUS and University of Galway will receive €690,00 and €230,000 respectively, as part of a new fund.
The funding is part of a new Distributed Campus Support Fund, announced by the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, targeted towards education institutions that have multiple campuses in remote regional locations.
Minister Harris said the fund would help improve the balance of regional development.
“This new funding strengthens and supports regional campuses dispersed in our regions. This ensures that higher education institutions that have multiple campuses can boost and maximise the impact of their campuses in the regions.
“Crucially, this new funding delivers more balanced regional development, with high quality and state-of-the-art campuses. It shouldn’t be that all roads lead to the big city when it comes to education,” the minister added.
The funding was also welcomed by Midlands-Northwest MEP Maria Walsh, who said: “It’s brilliant to see third-level institutions across the Midlands-Northwest receiving well over 50% of the total funding.
“This will guarantee that regardless of where students attend university, they will receive the highest possible quality of education,” Walsh added.
“The reality is that the cost of delivering education in regional campuses can often be higher, but our young people should not have to pay the price.
“This funding ensures that regional higher education campuses across the Midlands-Northwest…are supported in recognition of that fact they are regionally dispersed,” the Fine Gael MEP said.
Other universities
Outside of the northwest, three other universities will receive funding under the Distributed Campus Support Fund.
These are Munster Technological University (MTU), Southeast Technological University (SETU), and Mary Immaculate College. They will receive €230,000, €460,000, and €230,000 respectively.
The Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science said that campuses spread over significant distances have unique circumstances and higher costs associated with the delivery of education.
The department said it recognises that there are unavoidable additional fixed costs in operating such campuses.
These costs include delivering core campus services across multiple sites; traveling between campuses; and smaller classes and lower staff-student ratios than is the case in larger population centres, due to their unique demographic profiles.