CORK INSTITUTE OF Technology and Institute of Technology Tralee are to join together to become the Munster Technological University (MTU). 

Education Minister Joe McHugh described the move as a “landmark development for the South West” and said that a resolution would be passed by the Oireachtas to give effect to to the technological university status of the new institution. 

Munster Technological University will be formally established on 1 January 2021 and students graduating the 2020/2021 academic year will therefore do so with university qualifications.

CIT currently has 17,000 full and part-time students while ITT has almost 4,000.

The move comes following 2018’s Technological Universities Act which made it possible for two or more ITs to come together to seek technological university status.

The new law provides for this to happen subject to eligibility criteria and an assessment by an international advisory panel.

These assessment has now been completed in the case of CIT and IIT and they will now become MTU, with a new president and governing body. 

“Both institutes have worked hard and overcome challenges to meet the conditions stipulated so that it is possible to announce this decision, and subject to the relevant Oireachtas process, proceed to award TU status,” McHugh said. 

President of IT Tralee, Dr Brendan O’Donnell said that MTU could become “a strong driver of economic growth for the region”. 

“This is a time of unprecedented challenge for the region, Ireland and the world. MTU will play a leadership role in the strategic development of the South-West region as we work towards national and global recovery,” he said.

“The availability of a skilled professional workforce is essential to the creation of Irish companies and in attracting new companies to locate in Ireland. ”