Minister Simon Harris has announced today that the green light has been given for two major infrastructure projects by ATU Galway and the GRETB.
The Galway Roscommon Education and Training Board has been approved to move to the next stage of developing a College of The Future (COTF).
The project envisages the building of a state-of-the-art further education campus in Galway city.
Separately, Minister Harris has confirmed Atlantic Technological University has been given the go ahead to proceed to the next phase for a multidisciplinary teaching and learning facility on the Galway City Campus.
Speaking during a visit to Galway today, Simon Harris said that this is a great day for Galway, which has been chosen as one of ten locations for a College of the Future.
“Galway has become a hub for third level education and it needs a state-of-the art facility to meet the demands of the entire county.”
“The College of the Future Major Projects Fund will support the implementation of the vision set out in the Further Education Strategy.”
The GRETB has been given the go ahead to proceed with developing a preliminary business case for the project.
GRETB’s Chief Executive David Leahy said, “We are delighted to have been successful in our application for funding to build a state-of-the-art Further Education and Training College in the heart of Galway City.”
“This will allow us to develop and expand both our full and part-time courses and to offer the very latest in technology-enabled facilities in the continued delivery of top class education for the West of Ireland.”
Atlantic Technological University has also got the green light to develop a preliminary business case for a multi-disciplinary teaching and learning facility in Galway.
It is envisaged that the new building will serve students in the areas of Engineering, Business, Science and Computing.
ATU President Dr Orla Flynn welcomed the announcement, saying “The proposed development of this Learner Centre will benefit students and staff across our region, but especially those based at our ATU Galway City campus.”
“ATU has ambitions to become a truly great multi-campus technological university, serving the needs of our unique region, and beyond.”
“To do this, we will require continuing capital investment and today’s announcement is a very welcome step in that process.”
The application by Atlantic Technological University was made under the Technological Sector Strategic Projects (TSSPF) Fund.
Minister Harris said that today is a “key milestone” for the project at ATU, adding that the technological sector is a driver of regional development.
