Education Minister is 'conscious of Mayo GMIT Campus needs'

EDUCATION Minister Richard Bruton has revealed that he and his department, as well as the Higher Education Authority (HEA), is aware that the Mayo GMIT Campus has a debt shortfall of €2 million.

Ahead of his visit to the facility tomorrow morning, he told the members of An Seanad that the HEA has been closely monitoring the financial position of all of the IOTs and in particular is working closely with those institutes operating in deficit to ensure appropriate mechanisms are put in place to eliminate the deficit as quickly as possible.

In respose to a direct quiestion from Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill, he said in line with the HEA’s policy for dealing with financially vulnerable institutes, GMIT has agreed a three-year financial plan with the HEA to reach a balanced budget by 2017-18 and an external financial expert has been appointed to review the plan.

He continued: “GMIT has also identified a number of areas to address its financial position including implementation of a retention strategy; review of the offering versus other higher institutes of education to try to increase demand; and a new programme development to bring increased student numbers.

“The HEA has also stated that plans for the future of Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology must support the sustainable development of provision on all campuses. That is a very important principle.

“The HEA and the GMIT governing body have reconfirmed to my department their commitment to implementing a viable development plan for the Castlebar campus as part of this process.

“GMIT has appointed an interim head of the campus in Castlebar to lead this process. The GMIT board has also established a sub-committee look at the overall strategy and future plans for the institute.

“The department and the HEA recognise the particular challenges attached to multi-campus provision in GMIT and other institutes of technology.

“A major review of the funding allocation model of higher education has commenced and the review will look at how the future model can take account of the additional costs associated with these arrangements. My department and the HEA are committed to such multi-campus provision, including that at Castlebar.”

Senator Ó Domhnaill said it is important to recognise that rationalisation of services into the central pillar of GMIT would be at the expense of the Castlebar campus.

“I appreciate that the HEA has responsibility, but overall responsibility rests with the minister. Would he be willing to meet the delegation from Mayo County Council to discuss not just that issue, but other issues relating to third level education in the Mayo area?'

The minister responded: “It is important that we develop this plan, particularly for Castlebar and that we carve out a strong and resilient future for it. I will be meeting representatives of the college to get an understanding of the challenges and how it will meet them. I regularly go to different parts of the education sector to have consultation sessions where we hear local ideas.

'As local authorities are not specifically an education body, I am not committing to meet local authorities. Unfortunately, I get such requests on a very frequent basis.

'I assure the senator that I am very conscious of the needs of Castlebar. I will ensure I get first-hand experience from those who are extremely committed to its development. I believe that together with the HEA and the new funding models we can carve out a strong future for Castlebar.”