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Universities partnership launched

Taoiseach Enda Kenny together with Education Minister Ruairi Quinn today announced details of the 3U Partnership – a major collaboration between NUI Maynooth, Dublin City University (DCU) and the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI).

Building on the success of collaborative work between the institutions over the last number of years, the new formal partnership will see significant developments in academic programmes, research, education and internationalisation.

Speaking at the launch the Taoiseach said that the partnership was vital to Ireland’s future educational success and a cornerstone of Government policy.

This is a very significant collaboration between three of our finest institutions with very complementary and distinct fields of expertise. Through collaboration we can achieve scale that allows us to compete more effectively on the global stage.

The 3U Partnership will see:

  • The immediate establishment of 3U Biomedical Research to harness the talents of a combined pool of almost 1,000 researchers across the three institutions to develop leading-edge research in areas like cancer, diabetes and neurology.

  • Significant growth in international student numbers for the Greater Dublin region. Each institution will bring its own recruitment strength in key areas like India, Middle East, China and North America.

  • The introduction of new national and international study programmes, particularly at postgraduate level, which combine the particular strengths of each institution and will see students moving between campuses over the course of their work.

  • Developments in education of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics at third level, combining the expertise of the three institutions to develop new means of teaching methods and approaches at third level in what is a strategically crucial area for Ireland Inc.

Commenting on the announcement, Minister Quinn said:

One of our greatest educational challenges is to produce excellent graduates who are flexible and nimble, capable of interpreting and responding to the needs of an ever-changing world around them. That in turn drives our competitiveness. The 3U Partnership has this principle at its core and through collaborations of this nature the international reputation of our education and the impact of our research will be greatly enhanced.