U4D welcomes potential release of Foyle College site

However, U4D has stressed that the major blockage to Magee’s expansion is not the lack of land, but an absence of funds to pay for an increase in university student numbers. U4D notes that the University has stated that up to 2,000 additional students can be accommodated on the existing Magee site.

Padraig Canavan, chair of U4D, said: “It is excellent that we have greater certainty that the site is available for the expansion of Magee. But the major blockage is the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to release sufficient funds for the necessary expansion of university education in Northern Ireland. This would enable investment to take place and implement the expansion detailed in Derry’s One Plan, which is now written into the Programme for Government. This has only been fractionally assisted by the Department for Employment and Learning only agreeing to a minority of the comparatively small increase in student numbers to come to Magee.

“We are convinced that the most important ingredient in achieving the improvement of the economy in Derry-Londonderry is university expansion in the city. This is core to the city’s OnePlan. Equally essential is for the increase in student numbers to be centred in particular on the most relevant courses and skills, which means the STEM – science, technology, engineering and maths – subjects.

“Derry’s future must be more orientated to the high skills, high value, high wage economy. That requires modern economy skills. We need a big boost to local university student numbers to achieve that. It is in the gift of ministers and MLAs to enable it to happen.

“In the interim the University should allocate as many STEM places to Magee as possible, expanding on the existing site and make appropriate preparations for further expansion onto the Foyle College site.”