The President of DIT, Dr Brendan Goldsmith, has said he hopes the DIT will be designated a university by the end of this academic year. Speaking after the the end of the 1997-98 academic year.

"What we would really like is that next year, when we are making our own degree awards, we will be doing so as a university," Goldsmith said.

The presentation of the ministerial order brought to an end an arrangement for degree awards which has existed between the DIT and TCD since 1975.

The DIT has awarded its own certificates and diplomas for 50 years, though Goldsmith stressed that neither degree-awarding powers nor university recognition would lead DIT to constrict the range of its courses, which stretch from technical studies to post-doctoral level. "We see our unique strength as this range," Goldsmith said. "There is nowhere else in Ireland or, I believe, in Europe that offers this range." Goldsmith said there might be a change in the balance of awards, but "not a very marked change".

Last Wednesday, a group appointed by the Higher Education Authority made a formal visit to the DIT in what Goldsmith described as the "final hurdle" for the institute on the road to university recognition. The audit is taking place under section 9 of the Universities Act 1997, which left the way open for institutions to apply for university recognition.

The Minister for Education gave the DIT some further reason for optimism about the audit process. He said that he took a "very positive view" of the process and anticipated that a "very significant university" would emerge from it "in its own time".