By Cillian Doyle.
The Minister for Higher Education says the joint application by WIT and IT Carlow to become a Technological University is a good one.
Both institutes approved the application earlier this week and submitted it this afternoon.
Minister Simon Harris will now appoint an international advisory panel to consider the application.
He hopes to designate the university for January 2022 if things go to plan:
"We now finally have a really really good application - and remember this application has been endorsed by both students unions, by both governing authorities, by both presidents, by almost every single Oireachtas member cross member party in the South East- and by both academic councils as well.
What will happen next in line with the legislation - I will set about appointing an international advisory panel for them to consider the application and subject to that going well I hope to be able to designate the new university for January 1st of 2022."
Major step forward for the South East today with - finally - an application for a technological university. A potential game changer for the region! It’s involved a huge amount of work to get to this point. Thank you sincerely to everyone involved https://t.co/iy1P0b1a3C
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) April 30, 2021