Waterford Institute of Technology


Waterford Institute of Technology is a state-funded, freely available higher education institution situated in the city of Waterford, Ireland. The institute has six schools and offers programmes in business, engineering, science, health sciences, education and humanities.
The institute opened in 1970 as a Regional Technical College and adopted its present name on May 7, 1997. The institute is currently headed by President Prof. Willie Donnelly.

History

In the 1840s, at the time of the formation of the Queen's University of Ireland, Waterford politicians made strenuous, but unsuccessful, efforts to locate a university in Waterford. The cause was led by Thomas Wyse, Waterford's then Member of Parliament. He was perhaps unwisely chosen as he was not influential in Parliament due to strong Napoleonic links, being Catholic and leaning towards an independent Ireland. Galway, a much smaller city at the time, won out over Waterford, perhaps for geographical dispersion or to bolster the Irish language. Wyse wrote on the matter in his text "Education reform or the necessity of a national system of education".
The Regional Technical College, Waterford was founded in 1970 and grew quickly as a result of the strong regional need for tertiary education. At the time of the RTC's founding, there were two other third-level institutions in the city, St John's Seminary. Waterford News and Star notes the closing of the St John's Seminary in 1999 and De La Salle Brothers teacher training college.
In 1997 the college adopted its present name, Waterford Institute of Technology, by order of the Minister for Education Niamh Bhreathnach. At the time the Dublin Institute of Technology was the only other Irish state third level educational college with "institute of technology" in its name. Following a change of government and political pressure on behalf of other regional technical colleges, especially Cork Regional Technical College, all other regional technical colleges were similarly renamed by then Minister for Education Micheál Martin.
Since 2001 WIT has conferred its own awards at all levels from Higher Certificate to PhD, subject to standards set and monitored by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council which was established by the Government in June 2001, under the Qualifications Act, 1999. In October 2005 the institute was selected by The Sunday Times newspaper as the "Institute of Technology of the Year" in Ireland.
WIT now has a student population of approximately 6000 full-time students and 1,000 part-time students. The Staff currently consists of approximately 470 Full-time academic, 300 part-time and 300 support staff.
The institute formally applied in 2006 for university status in accordance with the Universities Act, 1997, and the process of examining the case for redesignation has commenced. In January 2007 Dr Jim Port was engaged by the government to carry out a "preliminary assessment" of the institute's case.

Ranking

In 2018, Webometrics placed WIT as the 7th best higher education body in Ireland. The institute is also ranked at 10th place by Unirank, and the leading Irish institute of technology.

Campuses

The institute has 5 campuses: Cork Road, College Street, Carriganore, the Applied Technology Building and the Granary.

Cork Road Campus

The Cork Road Campus is located on the R680. It was established in 1970 and houses the majority of the institutes departments. The Engineering, Science, Business and Health Science Schools are located on this campus. The buildings on this campus are: The original ’69 building which contains the main administration offices along with the Schools of Science & Engineering, the ’77 building housing the Business School, the Luke Wadding library, Walton IT Building, O'Connell Bianconi Nursing Building, Tourism & Leisure Building, the “T-Block" now the FTG rooms, which is also where the Centre for Technology Enhanced Learning is located. The Dome Bar, College Hall and Fitness Suite are adjacent to the main building, and there is also on-site accommodation "College Fields" apartments.

College Street Campus

The College Street Campus is located 5 minutes from the City Centre. The Humanities and Lifelong Learning & Education schools are officially located here, but are in reality spread between this and the Cork Road Campus. There is also an on-site College Library. The buildings were purchased from the Good Shepherd Order of Nuns. The one time convent houses a Pugin-designed chapel which is used for concerts and ceremonies. WIT Conferring ceremonies take place in the Chapel on this campus every year.

Carriganore Campus

The Carriganore campus, or West Campus, is located outside the city near the Waterford Bypass. It is the goal of the institute that this campus become the college's Cork Road Campus in years to come. So far it has the TSSG Building, the ArcLabs Research and Innovation Centre, the National Biodiversity Centre, Carriganore House and the WIT Sports Campus. Many of the intervarsity rugby, soccer & GAA matches take place here.

Applied Technology Building

The Applied Technology Building, which is on lease from IDA Ireland, is located in Waterford's Industrial Estate. This is just a 2-minute walk from the back of the Cork Road Campus. While thought by most students to be a “spill-over” of the Cork Road Campus, due to its close proximity, it is officially a separate campus. It houses engineering workshops and technology based facilities as well as the Careers Centre and the Engineering Research area.

The Granary

The department of architecture and architecture technology is located in the old Waterford Museum of Treasures. This building is on the Merchant's Quay, very close to the city centre and the historical heart of the cifty.

Organisation

The institute is divided into 6 schools and their various departments.

Research at WIT

WIT has secured €200 million in research funding since 2000 and has collaborated with 350 academic and industry partners over that period. It is the only institution to have three Enterprise Ireland Technology Gateways. These are TSSG, , and .

Research Centres

Student life

The institute has over 30 sports clubs and upwards of 25 societies registered each year. The WIT GAA Club is the best known and most successful with its hurlers having won the Fitzgibbon Cup on nine occasions and the Camogie team Ashbourne Cup winners eight times. Many other sports such as basketball, rugby, soccer, kayaking and horse riding are supported at the institute also.
A significant portion of the institute's students live in WIT Campus Accommodation i.e. Manor Village, College Fields and Roncalli house, which adds to the levels of participation in the social and cultural life of the college.
Like many other Irish universities and institutes, the institute has an increasingly international student body. The institute has had strong links with many European universities for many years and has more recently grown its links with American and Asian universities. There is a large Brazilian contingent of students each year also.
There is an active Students' Union in WIT. Every full-time registered student in the college is a member of the Students' Union. They are also affiliated to the Union of Students in Ireland.

Future

The institute has been planning a joint application with IT Carlow for the formation of a technological university for the south east region since the mid-2010s. A vision document, "Technological University for the South East" was published in 2015, and a memorandum of understanding was signed in 2017. At the launch of TU Dublin in July 2018, the Taoiseach expressed regret that this TUSE bid had not progressed sufficiently following the "Technological Universities Act 2018".

Notable Alumni

Arts
Politics
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Business
The head of the college was originally titled principal, this post was renamed director and then from 2006 president. The founding principal was Richard Langford. Dr. Danny O'Hare was the second head of the college serving from 1974 until 1977. Other heads of the college include Ray Griffin, Prof. Kieran R. Byrne from 2001 until 2011 and Dr. Ruaidhrí Neavyn who served as president from 2012 until 2015. Prof. William Donnelly was appointed president in 2015.