South-east to gain in new role for college

"WE have always done our work privately, and will be judged by the market-place," insisted Mr Paddy Downey, registrar of Waterford…

"WE have always done our work privately, and will be judged by the market-place," insisted Mr Paddy Downey, registrar of Waterford Regional Technical College.

He was explaining why the college authorities have studiously refrained from intervening in the flurry of public debate which followed the recent announcement that this RTC, out of all those in the country, is being upgraded to an Institute of Technology.

Nonetheless, although the college itself has avoided the blowing of trumpets, its new status and the potential this unlocks for development of the entire south-east region has already lifted community morale and been widely celebrated in business and industrial circles.

The effects of the upgrading - the first such transition in Irish education history - will filter through gradually. But it inevitably heralds expansion and change, and fulfils the firm recommendation of regional authorities for greater provision of higher education in the south-east.

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Yet the implications of the upgrading are plainly wide-ranging.

As an Institute of Technology it will soon be on the way to providing more degree qualifications than sub-degree (certificates and diplomas). Enhanced funding opportunities will open up and the college can address the improvement of its facilities and its staffing.

For a decade or more, Waterford and the south-east have aspired to and campaigned for a university level institution in the region. The entire geographical entity, which is about 13.5 per cent of the area of the State and has a population of around 400,000, felt disadvantaged in comparison to the other regions, each of which had an established university at its core.

It was not simply a matter of prestige; successive regional studies judged that socio-economic development was being inhibited by the shortfall in third-level educational provision. Consultants' reports identified the region as having a low level of higher educational participation.

The RTC, however, took its own route to closing the gap.

Starting with diploma courses in areas such as architectural technology, science and engineering, it aimed at creating centres of excellence, working closely with the National Council for Educational Awards to underpin the standards of the qualifications it offered.

The results of that work are plainly evident in the statistics which mark the recent growth of the RTC. Over 2,000 of its 5,000 full-time students are engaged on degree courses. It has 3,000 part-time students and some 500 staff.

As the college developed a reputation for the quality of its courses in fields such as computer science, business studies and the humanities, demand for places in these degree courses has accelerated. While the RTC competes on a national basis for the best of students from the points system, around 40 per cent of its degree students at present are from within the south-east region.

The number of full-time degree students is expected to expand to around 4,000 when the potential opened up by the upgrading is realised. New areas have already been developed to meet regional needs, such as a degree course in Applied Languages, and one in Computer-Aided Manufacturing.

The college already has more than 100 postgraduate students, and this area will also grow. There is a well-established system of placement of advanced students for work experience in regional industries and further afield.

The RTC's growth has placed strains not only on its own teaching space and facilities, but also on accommodation resources in the surrounding locality. The first-year intake last year was almost 2,000 and rented accommodation in the Waterford area has become scarce.

Mr Downey estimates that the presence of the college and its staff and student body probably injects some £25 million annually into the Waterford economy. The contribution to the city's social and cultural life is unquantifiable - but clearly significant.

There are other outreach benefits. "This year, for the first time, we're working in partnership with the Regional Hospital [Ardkeen] in nursing education," he pointed out. Working with the South Eastern Health Board, the college has actively developed its expertise in paramedical subjects, and nurses recruited to the hospital now complete part of their later educational studies at the RTC.

This week soil tests were being carried out on an open area flanking the main college campus. It is preparatory work for the beginning next autumn of construction of a badly-needed new library, part of an ongoing development plan for the campus.