Statement by Minister O’Keeffe at the announcement of strategic alliance between UL and NUI Galway

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.

I am delighted to join the Taoiseach and Tánaiste in welcoming the announcement of this strategic alliance between NUI Galway (NUIG) and the University of Limerick (UL).

The alliance, which is being led at the highest level in the universities, will combine the institutions’ strengths and create synergies across the range of activities from undergraduate through to research for the benefit of students, the institutions themselves, their regions, and the country as a whole.

The framework for the development of a ‘smart economy’ highlighted the key role played by the higher education system in the development of an innovation culture.

It set out a challenge to the sector to create new possibilities through new alliances and new organisational arrangements to advance our knowledge capacity and generate opportunities for new levels of efficiency, performance, innovation and growth.

By enhancing their cooperation to the level of an institutional strategic alliance, NUIG and UL are responding directly to this challenge and I commend them highly for this.

The alliance is significant in that it spans all the key areas of activity in the universities including teaching, research, technology transfer, lifelong learning and the provision of services.

It will enhance the overall quality of education experience for students by increasing the choices available to them.

It will build scale and enhance quality in defined research areas.

And it will allow for improved efficiencies through shared services and procurement initiatives.

It is important to keep in mind that, while the Irish higher education system is small by international standards, it operates in a global context.

The inclusion of an international dimension to this alliance - the partnerships with two higher education institutions in the United States - recognises the fact that the standards we pursue in higher education are not regional or national - but global.

In order to compete successfully on this international stage, it is important that we pool resources to enhance overall performance.

In recognition of the need to review the environment for higher education and to address the challenges and changes that are impacting on the sector, last year I launched a process to develop a new national strategy for higher education.

This will set out a blueprint for the development of the sector over the next two decades.

The strategy process which is ongoing is examining how well Ireland’s higher education system is performing, how it ranks internationally and how well existing resources are being used.

The strategy group is critically examining the roles and relationships of our higher education institutions and considering how the system can be re-configured to best meet the many challenges it faces over the next 20 years.

We know that the quality of our higher education system is critical to Ireland’s economic recovery.

It is essential that we position the system to fully exploit its potential in producing the smart people and the smart ideas required for our smart economy ambitions.

I applaud today’s announcement by NUIG and UL as an important practical contribution to meeting that challenge and as recognition by the two universities of the nature of the response that Ireland needs from its higher education system.

A great strength of our higher education system over recent years has been its capacity to adapt and respond to changing needs.

This has been best demonstrated in the massive growth in higher education participation and in the development of a vibrant research culture.

New and deeper forms of alliances will now help to maximise the effectiveness and impact of the national resource that is our higher education system.

In launching an alliance, NUIG and UL have shown their willingness to respond to the future even more complex challenges facing Irish higher education in a more globalised and uncertain environment.

I congratulate both presidents and their senior colleagues on their initiative and leadership in making this happen.

The quality and depth of co-operation that underpins this new formal alliance is striking.

I am quite certain that new and innovative opportunities will open for both universities and their wider communities as the alliance deepens.