Technological universities expected to get the green light to build their own student accommodation

TECHNOLOGICAL universities (TUs) are expected to get the go-ahead to build on-campus accommodation for students.

It will transform the college experience as institutes of technology in towns around the country are elevated to TU status.

It will also take the pressure off local private rental markets. 

On-campus accommodation has generally been the preserve of the traditional universities, which have the legal authority to borrow to fund the works.

But Higher Education Minister Simon Harris said today that he wanted to give the same power to technological universities.

Athlone, Castlebar, Sligo, Letterkenny, Wexford and Carlow are set to join Tralee as university towns, as plans for more TUs make significant advances.

Waterford IT, which is merging with IT Carlow to create a technological university for the southeast, is the only institute of technology with dedicated campus accommodation.

It is on course to become a university city on January 1 next, with a formal application for the merged colleges to be designated as a TU expected to be lodged this week.

The project will see an expansion of the Waterford IT footprint in the city, along with a new purpose-built campus in Wexford.

It is one of three TUs expected to be launched next year, with Athlone IT and Limerick IT set to create a TU for the midlands and midwest. Its application is in and a formal announcement is due next week.

Meanwhile, a Connacht-Ulster alliance of IT Sligo, Letterkenny IT and Galway-Mayo IT, which has a campus in Castlebar, is also on track to create a TU next year.

Earlier this year, IT Tralee and Cork IT relaunched as Munster Technological University (MTU).

Provision of on-campus accommodation would bring a bonus for students and for colleges, but would also have broader benefits

Speaking in the Dáil today, Mr Harris talked about the need to address the issue of student accommodation in the context of overall housing supply.

“We cannot continue to tolerate a situation where third-level students are competing with young workers or families for housing,” he said.

Mr Harris said proximity to a college campus had resulted in many families being pushed out of rental accommodation in place of students, who tend to pay more. This is because students may rent per room.

“This debate has sparked off a conversation across Government about what more we need to do to protect students, but also to ensure they are not competitors in a pressurised market.

“For a start, I think the anomaly whereby universities are in a position to use borrowing frameworks to build campus accommodation and technological universities are not, should be addressed.”

He said the TUs were transforming education across the country and there was “a real opportunity to address regional imbalance if our new TUs have the option to build on-campus accommodation.”

Mr Harris said the benefits could be significant for the student and the market.

“It could help end the tug-of-war between families and students, and open up the market. It also could help reduce the cost of accommodation for students and their families too.”

The minister referred to the National Student Accommodation Strategy, which sets out targets to increase the supply of student accommodation generally, but it depends heavily on the private market.

Mr Harris said it was “a good strategy but we need a strategy that relies less on private operators and more on college-owned accommodation”.