Editing Waterford Institute of Technology

{{Short description|Former higher educational institution}}
{{Use Hiberno-English|date=January 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox university
| name                   = Waterford Institute of Technology
| native_name            = Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Phort Láirge
| native_name_lang       = gle
| image                  = Waterford Institute of Technology, 2021-06-01, 06.jpg
| image_alt              =
| caption                = Waterford campus in June 2021
| former_name            = Waterford Regional Technical College
| motto                  = Foirfe chun fónaimh
| mottoeng               = Perfect to Serve
| type                   = [[Public university|Public]]
| established            = {{Start date|1970}}
| closed                 = {{End date|2022|05|01|df=yes}}
| chair                  = Richard Langford<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.wit.ie/about_wit/our_community/governing_body|title=Governing Body - Waterford Institute of Technology|website=WIT.ie}}</ref>
| president              = William Donnelly<ref>{{cite web|title=Office of the President|url=https://www.wit.ie/about_wit/at_a_glance/office_of_the_president,48165,en.html |accessdate=14 November 2016}}</ref>
| students               = 8,061
| undergrad              = 7,208
| postgrad               = 766
| academic_staff         = 715
| administrative_staff   = 395
| other                  = 1,519
| address                = Cork Road
| city                   = [[Waterford]]
| province               = [[Munster]]
| postalcode             = X91 K0EK
| country                = [[Republic of Ireland|Ireland]]
| coor                   =
| campus                 =
| colours                =
| website                = {{URL|https://www.wit.ie}}
}}

The '''Waterford Institute of Technology''' ('''WIT'''; {{langx|ga|Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Phort Láirge}}) was an [[Institutes of technology in the Republic of Ireland|institute of technology]], located in [[Waterford]], Ireland. The institute had six constituent schools and offered programmes in business, engineering, science, health sciences, as well as education & humanities.

The institute opened in 1970 as a [[Institutes of Technology in Ireland|Regional Technical College]] and adopted its name on 7 May 1997.<ref>{{cite Irish legislation|type=si|year=1997|number=199|name=Regional Technical Colleges Act 1992 (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 1997|date=7 May 1997|access-date=8 March 2021}}</ref> Along with the [[Institute of Technology, Carlow]], the institute was dissolved on 1 May 2022 and was succeeded by the [[South East Technological University]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Establishment of South East Technological University and its first president is welcomed by Minister Harris |url=https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/1f822-establishment-of-south-east-technological-university-and-its-first-president-is-welcomed-by-minister-harris/ |access-date=16 June 2022 |website=www.gov.ie |date=May 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
At the time of the founding of the RTC, there were two other third-level institutions in the city, [[St. John's College, Waterford|St John's Seminary]]<ref>[http://archives.tcm.ie/waterfordnews/2004/01/23/story13295.asp On the market: St. John's College sale to fund new pastoral centre] Waterford News & Star</ref> Waterford News and Star which notes the closing of the St John's Seminary in 1999 and De La Salle Brothers teacher training college, but both had been closed.

Waterford politicians made strenuous but unsuccessful efforts to locate a university in Waterford at the time of the formation of the [[Queen's University of Ireland]] in the 1840s. The cause was led by [[Thomas Wyse]], [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Waterford City (UK Parliament constituency)|Waterford City]], who was not influential in the House of Commons, having strong Napoleonic links{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} (he married a niece of [[Napoleon I]] of France), being a Catholic and leaning towards an independent Ireland.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} [[Galway]], a much smaller city at the time, won out over Waterford, perhaps because of the necessity for geographical dispersion or to bolster the [[Irish language]]. Wyse wrote in the round on the matter in his text "Education reform or the necessity of a national system of education" (London, 1836).

The institute was founded in 1970 as the Regional Technical College, Waterford. Once founded, the regional technical college grew very quickly as a result of the obviously strong regional need for tertiary education. In 1997 the college adopted its present name by order of the [[Minister for Education (Ireland)|Minister for Education]] [[Niamh Bhreathnach]], with [[Dublin Institute of Technology]] being the only other institution with the "institute of technology" title at the time in Ireland. Following a change of government and enormous political pressure on behalf of other regional technical colleges, especially [[Cork Regional Technical College]], all other regional technical colleges were renamed similarly by Minister for Education [[Micheál Martin]].

Since 2001, the institute had conferred its own awards at all levels from Higher Certificate to PhD, subject to standards set and monitored by the Higher Education and Training Awards Council ([[HETAC]]) which was established by the Government in June 2001, under the Qualifications (Education and Training) Act, 1999.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.wit.ie/AboutWIT/ |title=AboutWIT|accessdate=2008-05-21}}</ref>
In October 2005 the institute was selected by ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' newspaper as the "Institute of Technology of the Year" in Ireland.

The institute now has a student population of approximately 6,000 full-time students and 1,000 part-time students. The Staff currently consists of approximately 470 Full-time academic, 300 part-time and 300 support staff.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cpd-construction.com/moodle/file.php/1/Project_Partners.doc|title=Project Partners}}</ref>

The institute formally applied in 2006 for university status in accordance with the Universities Act, 1997, and the process of examining the case for redesignation has commenced. In January 2007 Dr Jim Port was engaged by the government to carry out a "preliminary assessment" of the institute's case.<ref>[http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=50&si=1731008&issue_id=14935 Institute a step nearer to university status] Irish Independent</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://afterschool.my/scholarship/waterford-institute-technology-scholarship/ |title=Waterford Scholarship 2017 |publisher=Afterschool}}</ref>

WIT and [[Nemeton TV]] (which is based in the Waterford Gaeltacht) run a Higher Diploma in Arts in Television Production supported by Údarás na Gaeltachta.<ref>[http://nemeton.ie/training Nemeton Training], www.nemeton.ie</ref>

==Ranking==
In 2018, Webometrics placed WIT as the 7th best higher education body in Ireland (out of 32). The institute is also ranked at 10th place by Unirank, and the leading Irish institute of technology (with the exception of DIT, which is now classified as a Technology University).<ref>{{cite web |title=Ireland:Ranking |url=http://www.webometrics.info/en/Europe/Ireland%20 | accessdate=7 December 2017}}</ref>

==Campuses==
[[File:Waterford Institute of Technology, 2021-06-01, 03.jpg|thumb|Waterford Institute of Technology campus]]
The institute has 5 campuses: Cork Road, College Street, Carriganore, the Applied Technology Building and the Granary.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}}

==Organisation==
The institute is divided into 6 schools and their various departments.

{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
*'''School of Business'''
**Department of Accountancy & Economics
**Department of Management & Organisation
**Department of Graduate Business Studies
*'''School of Lifelong Learning & Education'''
**Department of Education
**Department of Lifelong Learning
*'''School of Engineering'''
**Department of Architecture
**Department of the Built Environment
**Department of Engineering Technology
*'''School of Health Sciences'''
** Department of Nursing & Health Care
** Department of Health, Sport & Exercise Science
*'''School of Humanities'''
**Department of Applied Arts
**Department of Creative & Performing Arts
**Department of Languages, Tourism & Hospitality Studies
*'''School of Science and Computing'''
**Department of Chemical & Life Sciences
**Department of Computing and Maths
}}

==Research at WIT==
[[File:ResearchInfographic.svg|thumb|right|259x259px|A Visual Summary of WIT Research]]

===Research Centres===
* [[Walton Institute|Walton Institute for Information and Communications Systems Science]]
* Pharmaceutical and Molecular Biotechnology Research Centre (PMBRC)
* Eco-Innovation Research Centre
* Nutrition Research Centre Ireland (formerly MPRG)
* South Eastern Applied Material Research (SEAM)

===Research Groups===
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
'''School of Business'''
* Centre for Enterprise Development & Regional Economy
* Centre for Management Research in Healthcare & Healthcare Economics
* Centre for Newfoundland and Labrador Studies
* AIB Centre for Finance and Business Research
* Research in Innovation, Knowledge Transfer and Organisational Networks
* Waterford Crystal Centre for Marketing Studies

'''School of Engineering'''
* Advanced Automotive Electronic Control Group
* Advanced Manufacturing Technology Research Group
* Construction Industry Research & Knowledge Centre
* Materials Characterisation and Processing Group
* Microelectronics and Systems Research Group
* Nanotechnology Research Group
* Wireless Communications & Large Scale Simulation Group
* Convergent Technologies Research Group
* Building Information Modelling Research Group
* iBerg

'''School of Health Sciences'''
* Health Informatics Research Group
* Centre for Health Behaviour Research

'''School of Humanities'''
* Spirituality in Society and the Professions
* Centre For Research, Creativity & Innovation in Tourism
* Centre for Social and Family Research
* Content & Language Integrated Learning Research Group
* Creativity & Culture Research Group

'''School of Science'''
* Automotive Control Group
* Centre for INformation SYstems and Techno-culture
* Game Based Learning
* Health Informatics Research Group
* Optics Research Group
}}

==Technological University for the South East==
{{Main|Technological University for the South East}}
The institute has been planning a joint application with [[IT Carlow]] for the formation of a [[Technological Universities in Ireland|technological university]] for the [[South-East Region, Ireland|south east region]] since the mid-2010's.<ref name="TUSE WIT 1">{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720091241/https://www.wit.ie/news/other/technological_university_for_the_south_east |archivedate= 20 July 2018 |date=31 May 2013 |url=https://www.wit.ie/news/other/technological_university_for_the_south_east|url-status=live |accessdate=20 July 2018 |title=Technological University for the South East |publisher=[[Waterford IT]]  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171217012824/https://www.wit.ie/news/other/south_east_technological_university_moves_closer_to_becoming_a_reality |publisher=Waterford IT |accessdate=20 July 2018 |url=https://www.wit.ie/news/other/south_east_technological_university_moves_closer_to_becoming_a_reality |archivedate=17 December 2017 |date=3 October 2013 |url-status=live |title=South East Technological University moves Closer to Becoming a Reality}}</ref> A vision document, "Technological University for the South East" (TUSE) was published in 2015, and a [[memorandum of understanding]] was signed in 2017.<ref name="TUSE Timeline">{{cite web |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720091235/http://www.tuse.ie/timeline/ |url=http://www.tuse.ie/timeline/ |title=Timeline |publisher=[[Technological University for the South East]] |url-status=live |archivedate= 20 July 2018 |accessdate=20 July 2018 |year=2018}}</ref> At the launch of TU Dublin in July 2018, the Taoiseach expressed regret that this TUSE bid had not progressed sufficiently following the Technological Universities Act 2018.<ref name="Leo">{{cite web |via=[[facebook.com]] |publisher=[[Dublin Institute of Technology]] |url=https://www.facebook.com/dublininstituteoftechnology/videos/10155313849631086/ |title=Announcement by An Taoiseach |date=17 July 2018 |accessdate=17 July 2018}}</ref><ref name="Act2">{{cite Irish legislation|number=3|year=2018|name=Technological Universities Act 2018 |publisher=Office of the Attorney General|date=19 March 2018|access-date=18 July 2018}}</ref>

Approval was announced in November 2021, and the TU will be formally established in {{Update after|2022|6|1|text=May 2022}}.<ref name="IndoEst">{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/regionals/wexford/news/establishment-of-technological-university-of-the-south-east-confirmed-for-may-2022-41009555.html|title=Establishment of Technological University of the South East confirmed for May 2022|website=[[Independent.ie]] |first=Padraig |last=Byrne |date=2 November 2021}}</ref>

==Notable alumni==
'''Arts'''
*[[Gráinne Mulvey]] – Irish composer, currently Professor and Head of Composition at the Technological University of Dublin
*[[Máiréad Nesbitt]] – Irish fiddler, former member of the ensemble [[Celtic Woman]]

'''Politics'''
*[[Ciara Conway (politician)|Ciara Conway]] – [[Teachta Dála|TD]]
*[[Martin Cullen]] – Teachta Dála & Government Minister
*[[Grace O'Sullivan]] – [[Member of the European Parliament|MEP]]
*[[John Paul Phelan]] – [[Teachta Dála]]

'''Sport'''
*[[Niamh Briggs]] – Irish Rugby Player<ref>[http://www.rbs6nations.com/en/women/1692.php?player=94944&includeref=dynamic Niamh Briggs], rbs6nations.com, accessed 23 March 2013</ref>
*[[Steve Lennon]] - darts player
*[[Setanta Ó hAilpín]] – GAA & Australian Football League player
*[[Geordan Murphy]] – Irish Rugby Player
*[[Henry Shefflin]] – GAA player

'''Business'''
*[[Philip Lynch]] – businessman, CEO of [[Aryzta|IAWS Group]]
*Kerrie Power – businesswoman, CEO of [[HEAnet]]

==See also==
*[[Education in the Republic of Ireland|Education in Ireland]]
*[[List of higher education institutions in the Republic of Ireland|List of higher education institutions in Ireland]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.wit.ie Official WIT website]
*[http://www.wit.ie/research/centres_and_groups/research_groups Research Groups within WIT]
*[http://www.wit.ie/about_wit/documents_and_policies/strategy_documents WIT Strategic Plan]
*[https://repository.wit.ie/ WIT Institutional Repository]

{{Waterford}}
{{Institutes of Technology in Ireland}}
{{Authority control}}

{{coord missing|County Waterford}}

[[Category:South East Technological University]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Waterford (city)]]
[[Category:Education in Waterford (city)]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1970]]
[[Category:Waterford Institute of Technology]]