A NEW TECHNOLOGICAL university for Ireland’s Midlands has been announced by Minister for Further Education Simon Harris. 

Harris said today that Athlone Institute of Technology and Limerick Institute of Technology will amalgamate to form a new technological university. 

“The higher education landscape is rapidly evolving and the people of the Midlands and Mid-West will henceforth be at the heart both geographically and practically of that evolution,” he said. 

The announcement follows TU Dublin’s opening in 2019 after a merger between three Institutes of Technology in Dublin, and IT Tralee’s merger with Cork IT in January which formed Munster Technological University. 

AIT President Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin described today’s announcement as a “historic day” for the region. 

“Today’s designation will see AIT and LIT come together to form a new educational powerhouse, linked by the River Shannon,” he said. “Unique in its geography, the new university will border almost half of Ireland’s 26 counties, providing unprecedented levels of access to higher education,” he said. 

“This will be a transformative change in accessibility and one that we are proud to lead. As a new university, we will be bold and ambitious. We will drive future development and technological innovation across Ireland and on an international stage through cross-cutting, high-TRL [Technology readiness level] research and knowledge transfer to stakeholders in industry.”