Go-ahead for £11m Magee teaching block

Magee is a campus of the University of Ulster located in Derry, Northern Ireland. It opened in 1865 as a Presbyterian Christian arts and theological college. Today, it has no religious affiliation and provides a broad range of undergraduate and postgraduate academic degree programmes in a wide range of disciplines ranging from computer science, computer games and robotics to psychology and nursing. "Magee" gained its name from Martha Magee, the widow of a Presbyterian minister, who, in 1845, bequeathed £20,000 to the Presbyterian Church of Ireland to found a college for theology and the arts.

The £11 million development will deliver modern teaching accommodation which will facilitate a collaborative teaching approach at Magee and ensure that all available teaching space is used efficiently. Undergraduate student numbers at Magee have been increased by 568 by Minister Farry in recent years and the new teaching block is a necessary important addition to the Magee campus.

Minister Farry said: “This teaching block will be an essential component of the Magee campus and will meet the current and future needs of students and the University overall. It is vital that we have modern facilities in our higher education institutions to provide the best quality environment for teaching and research, and to ensure that in turn we are supporting our economy. This development is a strong signal of the importance of the Magee Campus to the economy in the North-West.”

The new teaching block will increase the capacity of the campus in line with the One Plan’s interim target for an additional 1,000 students, and will include a 340 seat lecture theatre which is a significant increase on present facilities at the campus. Construction of the teaching block will commence later this year and will take two years to complete.

The Minister continued: “I have been pleased to be able to deliver additional undergraduate places at the Magee Campus over recent years. I am also conscious of the strong case being made for further expansion of Ulster University at the Magee Campus both to support the local economy in the North-West and to increase higher education provision for Northern Ireland as a whole. This new teaching block will address the existing pressures on capacity and also facilitate some further investments in the numbers of students should the current business case from the Londonderry Strategy Board be approved, and the recurrent revenue funding found by the NI Executive to address current deficits in higher education funding and to facilitate the expansion itself.”

Professor Alastair Adair, Acting Vice-Chancellor, Ulster University said: “Today’s announcement is yet another positive step forward in the realisation of our strategic vision for Ulster University’s Magee campus. As an inclusive and internationally focused university, we want to offer students from across Northern Ireland and beyond, the most modern and high quality teaching environment.”