THE UNIVERSITY OF Limerick expects to create over 330 additional jobs and recruit a further 4,000 students over the next five years.

President of UL Dr Des Fitzgerald this morning launched the university’s new strategic plan. He said with the right support and backed by significant investment, the plan will bring staff numbers up to 1,930, to support rising student numbers.

The extra students will bring in an additional €30 million to the city and region, he said.

The launch took place at the site of the planned new UL city campus in the former Dunnes Stores site on Sarsfield Bridge. The site was acquired from Dunnes Stores earlier this year.

Fitzgerald said that academic excellence driven by research must be at the heart of the university’s plans. “In this strategic plan we make clear that the university here must aspire to be amongst the leading universities in these islands and we will achieve that by putting academic excellence at the heart of our plans,” he said.

Fitzgerald said that the coming years would see a revolution in teaching styles and philosophies and UL would seek to lead this transformation in Ireland.

“We believe that the teaching model which has characterised universities for a hundred years is coming to an end,m” he said.

“We want to put flexible learning spaces and tech-enhanced teaching models at the heart of our education and training. We will develop new curricula, new learning modes and a cross-disciplinary sharing and exchange approach with a particular focus on enterprise and entrepreneurship.”