The Many Incarnations Of Magee

It's thanks to Martha Magee, wife of a Lurgan clergyman, who donated £20,000 for the establishment of a Presbyterian college, that Magee College, Derry was established in 1845. Since then, Magee has enjoyed a number of incarnations.

At one point it was part of the Royal University, later it was associated with Trinity College, Dublin. "In 1982, when Magee became an outreach of the New University of Ulster, which was established at Coleraine, there were only about one hundred students on the campus," recalls Professor Fabian Monds, who is provost of Magee and pro-vice chancellor (planning) of UU.

Today, Magee is one of UU's four campuses - the others are at Coleraine, Jordanstown, which is north of Belfast, and York St in Belfast's city centre. UU boasts a total enrolment of 20,000 and an annual research income of £25 million.

Magee enjoys a student population of just under 3,000 including almost 1,500 full-time undergraduates. One-third of the latter come from the Derry area, 23 per cent are from the Republic, while almost all of the remainder come from other parts of Northern Ireland. All but twenty per cent of students are Catholic. However, according to Monds, Magee is "actively examining ways" of attracting more young Protestants to the college. Of the 240 or so postgraduate students enrolled at Magee, only six are registered for PhDs. Magee earns over a million pounds annually through research and has recently announced a £2.7 million project which will provide incubation space for at least eight new software businesses. Since 1984, the provost notes, the population of Magee campus has grown by well over 400 per cent, while the overall population of UU has only doubled.

The government cap on university places is due to be lifted in the year 2,000. "As a result of the new Labour Government's spending review, a decision had been made to provide more university places and the two universities in Northern Ireland are to gain a further 2,000 places," Monds notes. However, the 2,000 places are spread over three years and shared between the two universities. "It's only a limited step in the right direction," he admits. Although the final UU share out has yet to be decided, "UU is giving priority to its provision at Magee." The university's recent acquisition of the neighbouring Aberfoyle estate - which increases the size of the Magee campus to 22 acres - "could accommodate 5,000 plus students (including up to 3,000 full time) by the middle of the next decade". Magee, meanwhile, he says, is planning a range of new courses including law, urban and rural development, interactive multimedia design, subjects relating to heritage, and telecommunications. Monds describes the SDLP's call for a 10,000 student campus as "very ambitious". Magee wants to grow, he says, "but not at the expense of quality and we have to progress within our resources." However, "in five or ten years time a target of 10,000 is within our sights".

Professor Gerry McKenna, who is UU's pro vice chancellor (research), denies that there has been any attempt to limit the courses available at Magee. "The university puts on courses for which there is sufficient demand and where there is a critical mass of students. We offer psychology, computing and infomatics and business and management on three campuses. We try not to duplicate effort where there isn't a critical mass on any campus - because we couldn't compete in terms of quality." It's untrue to say that in terms of UU, Magee is peripheral. "Since 1984, Magee has received a major amount of investment," he stresses. UU, he says, has argued very strongly for the cap on student numbers to be removed. Universities in Northern Ireland have also been adversely affected by a 30 per cent cut in research funding over the last five years, "when the corresponding increase in Britain was 14 per cent". Cutting the research base was "very short sighted and of major significance in terms of economic expansion", the vice chancellor says.

There's strength in numbers and both Monds and McKenna believe that Magee's future lies within UU. "It's taken UU thirty years to develop a world class reputation in research," McKenna points out. The benefits of being part of a larger organisation are enormous. "We are working hard to fast track at Magee by building up major strengths in infomatics/computing and international business." Prof Monds adds that by going it alone, "we would lose out on cross-campus research and the expertise which exists on other campuses." Of all of UU's campuses, Magee is most subject to pressure for growth from the local community, "and that is very healthy", he says.