THE COUNTRY IS set to get its first ever technological university after a merger between DIT and institutes of technology in Tallaght and Blanchardstown.

The new university will be named TU Dublin and it will be the first tech university established under new laws which were enacted in March of this year.

The university will be developed on three campuses at Grangegorman, Blanchardstown and Tallaght across which all student services and resources – academic, support and recreational – would be digitally linked.

TU Dublin is expected to be created by the New Year.

The creation of the new third level institute is “part of the Government’s plan to drive regional economic growth and development under Ireland Project 2040 and to make Ireland the best education and training service in Europe by 2026″, according to the Government.

Further funding of €4.4 million towards the continuing development of TU Dublin was also announced. This latest funding installment is being provided by the Higher Education Authority under their 2018 higher education landscape restructuring funding call.

This will bring the total contribution to this project alone to almost €9.3 million to date.

Dr Joseph Ryan, who is the head of the Technological Higher Education Association (THEA), said he was delighted with the outcome.

“We welcome the investment made to date in the landscape restructuring and anticipate with interest the allocation of further funding to the three remaining TU consortia in the South-East, Munster and Connacht.

“This week we will lodge a collective pre-budget submission with the Department of Finance on behalf of the entire Technological HE sector on the core funding that is required for our sector in Budget 2019.

“In that submission we will ask the Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe to mirror the confidence of Ministers Bruton and Mitchell O’Connor in the technological HE sector with a robust package of investment as a stepping stone to establishing a sustainable funding model in the near future.”