Dr Patrick Prendergast, who is the former provost of Trinity College Dublin (TCD), will be the first chair of a new technological university (TU) in the south-east of Ireland. It is due to open its doors on 1 May.

Prendergast will be joined by Glanbia CEO Jim Bergin and Sanofi executive Ruth Beadle on the inaugural governing board of the Technological University for the South East, while a search for its first president is underway.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Science and Innovation, Simon Harris, TD, formally granted designation status to the university today (21 February), merging Institute of Technology Carlow (IT Carlow) and Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT). It will be the south-west region’s first university and Ireland’s fifth TU.

Harris hailed the designation as “a truly historic moment” for higher education in the south-east of Ireland, which came “after decades of debate”. IT Carlow and WIT filed for the designation in April last year and news of its establishment was first announced in November.

Prendergast served as the provost of TCD from 2011 to 2021, when he was succeeded by Prof Linda Doyle, who became the university’s first female provost. Having gone to school in Wexford, Prendergast is an engineer and a highly accomplished academic in Ireland.

“Having an inaugural governing board with such vast and invaluable experience will be of huge benefit to the Technological University as it embarks on this new journey,” Harris said in a statement.

The new TU for the south-east will have campuses in Carlow, Waterford and Wexford, with additional investment in the pipeline for new campuses in Waterford and Wexford to increase its footprint. Current students of IT Carlow and WIT will graduate with university degrees starting this year.

‘Economic success’ for south-east

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, TD, called it “a red letter day” for the south-east as the new university will “help us to secure more economic investment for the region” and “lead to more indigenous businesses being founded in the region fostering more job creation”.

“Crucial to making an economic success of Ireland’s south-east region is retaining and attracting talent and creating well-paid jobs. It’s a virtuous circle. Making higher education accessible to all is the best way to make Ireland a country of equal opportunities,” he said in a statement.

IT Carlow and WIT are now expected to undertake an open public competition to identify and propose to Harris a suitable candidate to lead the new university as its first president.

Ireland’s first technological university, TU Dublin, was announced in 2018, followed by Munster TU, which was inaugurated at the beginning of last year. Technological University of the Shannon: Midlands Midwest recently became Ireland’s third TU when it opened in October.

A fourth TU, which was approved in October, will be established in Ireland’s north-west after the merger of IT Sligo, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology and Letterkenny Institute of Technology. Named Atlantic Technological University, it is expected to open its doors on 1 April.

Patrick Prendergast at the ECB Youth Dialogue in Dublin. Image: Maxwell Photography/Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

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