UU should deploy more places to Magee

The Minister has consistently warned that he doesn’t have the money to fund any more than the 652 palces he’s already supported at the Londonderry campus since taking office.

But in a briefing document prepared by the DEL Skills Policy Branch in advance of a meeting with Derry City Council officials last month, it’s strongly hinted that the Minister wants the University to deploy more places to Magee to help meet the One Plan target.

The briefing note advises the Minister what lines to take if he’s pressed on what’s become a thorny political issue in the North West.

It suggests he state that: “Whilst I am seeking additional funding for more UG places, I would urge the University of Ulster to consider its deployment of student numbers across all of the campuses and to demonstrate its commitment to Magee and the One Plan by transferring places to it.”

Elsewhere, the note refers to what appears to be a Departmental bias in favour of the expansion of Magee.

It states: “The Minister’s preferred approach is to bid for additional resources and to allocate these across the entire sector but to give some preference to Magee.

“Good progress has been made towards the achievement of the One Plan interim target of an additional 1,000 places by 2015.

“However, the allocation of further additional places to the sector will depend on additional resources being made available to DEL by the Executive for this purpose.”

The civil servants also point out that aside from a bid for the proposed £10m teaching block, the University of Ulster hasn’t really sought to invest in its Londonderry campus.

“UU has not applied to DEL for any significant capital funding for Magee in the recent past,” it states.

“It did receive funding to upgrade lecture theatres there in 2010/11 (£192k) and the campus was included in the capital grant of £11.8m for overall estate refurbishment in March 2012.

“It is estimated that around £1.7m of this may have been used at Magee. Apart from the new teaching block and plans for new sports provision and pitches at Magee, there does not appear to be any other significant plans for major construction projects at the campus.”