UL - NUI Galway-Strategic Alliance to Drive Vital Research and Academic Excellence

posted 18th Feb

Colleagues

I am delighted to share with you an announcement which will be made public later today. The University of Limerick and NUI Galway have entered into a Strategic Alliance across all key areas of our activity. Our two Universities are committed to working together to deliver a better service to our students, to our business and industry partners, to our region and to our various stakeholders.

Later today, An Taoiseach Mr Brian Cowen T.D. will launch the new Alliance in the company of An Tánaiste and Minister for Trade, Enterprise and Employment, Ms Mary Coughlan T.D., and the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Batt O’Keeffe T.D. in the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin.

This Alliance will make a real difference – a difference to our students, to our faculty and staff, to our researchers, to our industrial and business partners, and a difference to the Shannon Region and the West of Ireland.

We believe that together we are stronger. In a time of unprecedented economic upheaval, we must look at alternative ways of delivering a quality service to our students. By working with NUI Galway, we will be able to protect and optimise student choices.

The Alliance will extend across all areas of our activity including teaching and learning, research, technology transfer, lifelong learning and service provision. A number of projects are set for immediate launch, including:

Research

We are collaborating with NUI Galway in key areas of research, including:

Biomedicine and biomedical devices
Energy research
ICT, including software development and semantic web research

Technology Transfer

We will promote the services of both Technology Transfer Offices as a single offering, particularly in the areas of our collaborative research.

We are also working with the Georgia Institute of Technology in the US to establish a joint Translational Research Institute. Georgia Tech is a recognised world leader in translational research and we are excited about the prospects of working with them.

Teaching and Learning

There are many collaborative projects planned in the area of teaching and learning, across all Faculties. One new development is the ‘Link-to-Learn’ student exchange programme which will facilitate students at either university who wish to avail of specialist opportunities at the other institution on a module or even semester basis.

Lifelong Learning

Strong links already exist between UL and NUI Galway in the area of adult and continuing education. These links will be extended as both units work together to provide programmes focused on upskilling the national workforce and meeting the needs of the newly unemployed.

Shared Services

Our two Universities will also collaborate on service provision, through a shared services model. In addition, we will use our combined buying power to collaborate in the joint procurement of goods and services to ensure maximum efficiency in our purchases.

More details of all of these projects can be found on the website from noon today:

http://www.nuigalway.ie/ul-alliance

I want to pay tribute to all at UL who have worked to make today’s announcement possible and I look forward to the benefits this strategic alliance with our colleagues in NUI Galway will bring to both our institutions and the communities we serve.

Don

Professor Don Barry

Uachtarán / President

Oifig an Uachtaráin / Office of the President

Ollscoil Luimnigh / University of Limerick