A plan to expand student numbers in Derry to 10,000 will cost up to £700 million and will not be realised for at least eight years, a report has found.
The taskforce on the expansion of Ulster University’s Magee campus published its interim report on Wednesday.
Established by Economy Minister Conor Murphy in March, the group has estimated the project will require £700m, 40% of which could come from private sector investment in student accommodation.
Speaking to The Irish News, Stephen Kelly, taskforce chairperson and chief executive of Manufacturing NI, said he remained “optimistic” about the group achieving its aim.
“We have done good work here. We have identified the commitments required. We have identified an indicative timeline and the funding requirements,” he said.
“All the parties that have been engaged so far are very positive towards ensuring this New Decade, New Approach commitment is finally delivered in as short a time as possible.”
Highlighting what the taskforce described as the “genuine willingness to address historic underinvestment in the north west”, Mr Kelly pointed to the Economy Department’s investment of £17m in “our new places and capital investments for the university”.
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He added: “Secondly, Ulster University now has a growth team which is about the expansion of Magee in terms of student numbers and the capital requirements.
“We now have the processes and people in place to deliver. We have the commitment in terms of the Programme for Government and the minister’s own business plan which was published this week. The process has already begun,” said Mr Kelly, who admitted there should have been “better precision” in this week’s Programme for Government.
“However, it is a draft and we would fully expect when the final Programme for Government is published it will have a very precise, firm commitment.
“In addition to that, we will be writing and asking that both our report and our action plan, which is to follow, will actually be adopted by the Executive as a Programme for Government commitment. That bit doesn’t worry me, it is only a draft.
“In the taskforce report there is an indicative timeline of 2032, in terms of the delivery of 10,000 students. That is subject to the money required being committed. We are asking as a day one action departments demonstrate that financial planning is in place.”
Taskforce member and UU vice-chancellor Prof Paul Bartholomew said: “We remain completely committed to growth at our campus in Derry, in line with our strategic commitment for better regional balance.
“We will continue to work together – at pace - with all stakeholders to successfully enact expansion of the campus, the curricula and the number of students.
“The report brings to the fore a clear picture of the challenges to overcome and crucially, the way forward to unlock those challenges, but it is greatly encouraging to see support galvanised to maximise the potential of this campus and the economic, social, cultural, civic and research benefits that it will in turn deliver for the region.”
The Derry University Group said the report was more “a list of excuses as to why the taskforce won’t deliver 10,000 students by 2030″.
“UU needs to be removed entirely from the Magee decision-making process and an external independent commission appointed to carry out the planning work fairly and meet the agreed target of at least 10,000 students by 2030, as sanctioned in New Decade New Approach,” it added.
Economy minister Conor Murphy said increasing Derry’s student population was a key driver for economic development in the north west.
“There has long been an aspiration to expand Magee. We now have the basis of a plan, developed by and with local people, to actually deliver expansion,” he said.
