Waterford IT snubs Minister’s plan for merger talks

Waterford Institute of Technology has rebuffed attempts by Minister for Education Jan O'Sullivan to re-enter merger talks with IT Carlow.

In a statement today, the institute said it would not be engaging with Michael Kelly, former chair of the Higher Education Authority, who was appointed by the Minister to get the merger plan back on track.

WIT is seeking to be declared a university on a standalone basis, in contravention of the terms of the forthcoming Technological Universities Bill, which makes the merging of at least two institutions a condition of receiving university designation.

After a four-hour meeting on Monday, the governing body at WIT met with the institute’s executive board to recommend non-cooperation with Mr Kelly’s efforts.

Asked whether management would be refusing to meet Mr Kelly, a spokeswoman replied “they are not going to meet him on the current basis”.

The governing body said it shared the view of the executive board and staff “that WIT should determine its own future in an autonomous way”.

It said it believed the merger with IT Carlow “will not yield the technological university that the southeast requires”.

While it said it welcomed Ms O’Sullivan’s commitment to deliver a university in the southeast, “the institute will not enter any proposed process which forces a merger that is incapable of delivering on the criteria for becoming a technological university”.

‘Entirely focused’

It added: “WIT has been entirely focused - over the last two years and in a long campaign prior to that - on delivering a university into the southeast region with the economic and social benefits this will bring. The institute has long performed at a university level according to accepted international metrics.”

The planned joined bid by WIT and IT Carlow collapsed when the Waterford institute pulled out of talks last month, saying the merger would impact on its core performance criteria and therefore delay a successful application.

It had at that point already fallen behind two other bids, one led by DIT and the other involving a merger of Cork IT and IT Tralee.

Neither the Minister nor the Higher Education Authority, which is overseeing the designation of technological universities, wishes to allow a standalone application as it would trigger similar bids from other institutes of technology.