Expanding access to third-level education key in Ireland's performance, says MTU president
A recent Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report confirmed that Ireland is now the most educated country in the world – ahead of Switzerland, Singapore, and Belgium.
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In an interview with
BreakingNews.ie
, Professor Maggie Cusack said: "I think it's a really important report. I think that's a fantastic finding, to say Ireland's the most educated country in the world. I think it's fundamentally important as technological universities and the advent of technological universities are a really exciting and important piece in the evolution of higher education in Ireland.
"And we're really mindful of our regional provision and how we provide those skills and that education. We do it in a way where we link really closely with employers, with industries, to make sure that our graduates have the skills required for that evolution.
"In the OECD report, it spoke about 54 per cent of the population with a bachelor's degree. You come to the younger part of the population, under 35, you go to 63/64 per cent. That's absolutely incredible. We think back in the history of that; I'm talking about an evolutionary process, you think about the introduction of free second-level education back in the 60s. I see everything that the technological universities are providing. And this real surge in third-level attainment is just a continuum of exactly that."
She said regional provision and expanding access to education are two of the key goals of MTU.
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Third-level access
"That equality of opportunity is fundamentally important to us and as well as having mechanisms in place to enable members of the population to pursue third-level education, making sure that they're supported is something we're proud of.
"We continue to challenge ourselves to say we have to do more and we have to make sure that we are supporting groups of the population who otherwise, traditionally, wouldn't have access to third-level education.
"The mission of technological universities aligns with that national trajectory and that increase in third-level access, because we're passionate about the fact that education generally does transform lives.
"It widens opportunities and it gives people opportunities for roles which are more highly paid and all of the positive impact that has on society and on the economy."
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MTU is a public technological university consisting of six campuses located in Cork and Kerry. The university was established in January 2021, the result of a merger between two institutes of technology, Cork Institute of Technology and the Institute of Technology, Tralee.
Prof Cusack has been president of MTU since it was founded, and she said her goal has been to keep it "student-centric" as the university and its campuses grow.
'Student-centric'
"I have to say it's been really fast and there's lots of change still underway as we bring two organisations together, and with six campuses for MTU, that's 18,000 students, 2,000 staff with a really large, complex organisation.
"Through all of the changes, it's all about being student-centric and making sure that we're making the best decisions for our learners while we're undergoing transition and transformation, all of the learning, the teaching, the assessment, the research, the links with industry and employers, the opportunities for students for innovation and entrepreneurship.
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"All of those continue, and indeed grow as we become more established as a university, we're doing structural changes and bringing about five faculties across our six campuses and something we're really proud of is the the breadth of the offering, and by that I mean the subject based offering with an outright technological university.
"This also includes different routes of access that are available. Sometimes when people think about universities, they may think it's solely related to the traditional school leaver who comes to university and does a four-year honours. Obviously, we have lots of our learners taking exactly that route.
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"It's really important to us that we also have the apprenticeship route, which suits other learners and perhaps other subjects. We have Springboard for upskilling and reskilling, so it's about that breadth of subject base that we deliver."
Prof Cusack emphasised the work her colleagues do in trying to connect students with employers and businesses while they pursue their education.
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"I'll give you one example. We have what we call an innovation challenge. So different companies may have products or services that they want to modify and they bring the challenge to MTU. So multidisciplinary groups of students, these are mostly undergraduates, come together.
"The engineers are working with the graphic designers or the social scientists, and they're coming together and they're pitching back to the companies to say 'here's the answer to your question', but the added value that our students bring out is just outstanding when the students are saying 'you could also do this to make it more sustainabl, and here's something else you could think about'. So those are undergraduates having that opportunity for innovation with live products that are out there on the market, and companies benefiting from that."
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