The Stormont Executive has been called on to copy moves to expand university provision in England announced by the British Chancellor of the Exchequer in his Autumn Statement on Thursday last.
Padraig Canavan.
The call has come from U4D (University for Derry), the group set up by leaders of the business and community sectors in the North West campaigning to expand the provision of under-graduate and post-graduate education in Derry.
U4D believes increased university provision would raise skill levels, increase employment, attract higher levels of inward investment and improve the prospects of locally owned businesses.
U4D chairperson Padraig Canavan said Chancellor George Osborne was to be congratulated for expanding university provision in England where 30,000 additional student places have been created for the 2014/15 year and abolished the cap on student numbers altogether from 2015/16.
Mr Canavan said: “”The Chancellor was open in his recognition that the UK is falling behind our competitor nations in terms of skills, especially in science, technology and mathematics.
“That is true for the rest of the UK, but so much more true in Northern Ireland – where we have the UK’s smallest university sector. One in three Northern Ireland university students conducts their studies at a university in Great Britain and half of these do not return to Northern Ireland. We are handing over much of our greatest talent to Britain.
“We urge the Northern Ireland Executive to expand university provision here, on the back of the announcement by the Chancellor.”
Mr Canavan said locating additional places to the Magee campus – as outlined in the OnePlan regeneration strategy for Derry – would provide the skills for Northern Ireland’s modern economy and also drive forward job creation and economic activity in Northern Ireland’s area of highest unemployment.
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