And while you're at it, can the southeast have a university please? Redmond O'Donoghuemakes the case for 'a weapon of competitiveness' for the region
To deny to the southeast the engine of future competitiveness - so called fourth- level education which heavily promotes research and innovation - would be unfair and unjust.
In recent weeks, several questions have been asked in the Oireachtas about Waterford Institute of Technology's submission to be designated as a university.
Furthermore, the Minister for Education and Science, Mary Hanafin, announced the appointment of independent expert Dr Jim Port to conduct an assessment of WIT's submission and provide advice on its merits to the Government.
The intention is that this process will inform the Government's thinking and will start a process which, I expect, will culminate in the completion of the requirements under section 9 of the Universities Act 1997.
Because of these developments, it is timely to outline the key issues surrounding WIT's submission.
The arguments for a university in and of the southeast are compelling. They revolve around economic, academic, social, competitiveness and national policy issues.
Economically, the southeast has underperformed in recent times. There is little chance of this changing in the foreseeable future unless there is a paradigm shift in higher education in the region. The current higher education structure attracts far too little investment in research activities - education's all-important fourth level.
Only 19.7 per cent of the workforce in the southeast has a third-level qualification compared with 26 per cent nationally, while 66 per cent of full-time third-level students from within the region leave to study elsewhere. Graduates cannot find appropriate high-level jobs in the region to bring them back.
The degree to which this brain drain is already happening can be seen from figures which compare the region in which graduates are employed in their region of origin.
In the east, 90.5 per cent of graduates are in jobs in their own region, in the west the figure is 74 per cent, while in the southeast the number is only 55.8 per cent. That Waterford is the only gateway city without a university unquestionably contributes to this malaise.
Everyone knows a university is a major driver of economic activity in its region. We repeatedly hear from local industrialists of investment, research, innovation and employment opportunities which can be realised. This was made clear at a recent series of meetings across the region organised by Ibec, the southeast chambers of commerce and the Irish-American Chamber. At five meetings there was a collective outcry for a university, which would be good for the region and for Ireland.
Ireland's development strategy is that of a knowledge-based economy. Furthermore, the National Spatial Strategy calls for regional development. Because it crosses provincial borders, the southeast is arguably a less natural region than, say, the west or the southwest.
However, if we are serious about the National Spatial Strategy, the creation of a region has to be about more than drawing a line on a map. There is a need to create a regional identity and regional institutions.
What better way to start this process than by creating the best regional institution of all - the university of the southeast?
The model envisaged in the WIT submission operates successfully all over the world. The proposed university would have its headquarters in Waterford but would have vital hubs in Wexford, Kilkenny and other parts of the region.
We need also to look at branding and competitiveness. The university "brand" matters and, without competitiveness, no business, no product, no region can prosper. The engine of competitiveness is going to be fourth-level education - research and innovation - and this is the unique proposition of the university sector. To deny this weapon of competitiveness to the southeast would, in my judgment, be unfair, unjust and unacceptable.
Our Carriganore campus, a 150- acre greenfield site just a mile from our Cork Road campus, is sandwiched between Waterford's new ring road and the River Suir. It is the ideal site for research and innovation: in fact, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern recently opened the ArcLab operation there - our first major entry into research and innovation.
Redmond O'Donoghue is chairman of the governing body of Waterford Institute of Technology, former chief executive of Waterford Wedgwood, non-executive director of Greencore plc, former chairman of Bord Fáilte, former president of the Marketing Institute of Ireland and former president of Waterford Chamber of Commerce.