Sinn Fein Education spokesperson Karen Mullan
The party’s Education spokesperson was commenting after a Sinn Féin delegation also including Councillor Micky Cooper met with the Magee Provost Malachy O’Neill.
She said: “We were very encouraged to hear that there has been a huge level of interest both nationally and internationally from prospective students of the new School of Medicine and that two new senior lecturers have been appointed through an extremely competitive recruitment process.
“This bodes well for the success of the new school when taken in tandem with the potential transfer of the School of Allied Health to Magee.
“Transferring these courses would bring at least 600 additional students to Magee and we agreed it is vital that the citizens of Derry respond to the current consultation on the proposal via www.ulster.ac.uk/consultations
“It was also encouraging to hear that discussions with the Dublin government are at an advanced stage to develop a range of transformational projects at Magee.
“Professor O’Neill also clarified that work is continuing at pace to allow the Ulster University (UU) to draw down the recently secured City Deal funding in 2021.
“This will see the UU develop cutting edge personalized medicine, engineering and robotics projects and also physically expand the campus onto the Strand Road riverfront.
“Magee was specifically referred to in the New Decade New Approach document which gives the UU leverage to maximize the contribution of both the Executive and Dublin government towards expansion and we expect to see some of these positive initiatives bearing fruit in the coming months.
“We emphasized that this needs to happen to ensure that momentum continues to build towards full expansion which will transform the city’s economic and educational prospects.
“We will not rest until this is achieved,” added the Foyle MLA.
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