Waterford Fine Gael Senator and General Election candidate John Cummins has welcomed confirmation that South East Technological University has been awarded a further expansion to their academic programme, this time a Masters in Pharmacy. The formal sanction by government today was announced by Fine Gael Minister Patrick O’Donovan at an event in University of Limerick where other healthcare courses in the areas of Medicine and Dentistry were announced. Forty students are expected to graduate each year at SETU, meaning two hundred additional students over the five-year programme at SETU.
Senator Cummins said “I have been consistent in saying that the case made by the wonderful academic team at SETU was exceptionally strong. It was for this reason the Higher Education Authority last year assessed the SETU bid for Pharmacy as viable. Over the intervening twelve months, a full business case was finalised and extensive engagement was carried out by the Department of Further and Higher Education, the Department of Health, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform and the Higher Education Authority to identify the exact number of places required”.
South East Technological University, Atlantic Technological University and University of Galway will each introduce new pharmacy programmes, doubling the number of pharmacy training programmes in Ireland. Forty places have been approved for SETU which is in line with the Expression of Interest submitted by the University in late 2022.
“While some politicians sought to say this process would be interfered with politically and SETU would loose out as a result, I never bought into that negative narrative. This process was independently assessed by the HEA and I want to compliment Peter McLoughlin, Claire Lennon and all the team at SETU who put trojan work into developing this programme. What has been very clear to me from the start of this process was the buy-in from everyone to ensure this favourable outcome we have achieved today”.
He added “I want to put on record my thanks to Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister O’Donovan for their steadfast support and engagement on this matter. I am proud of the part I have played in lobbying party colleagues and organising two letters of support from all Oireachtas members in the South East over the past 18 months. I have also had former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and current Taoiseach Simon Harris at meetings with the SETU leadership team on a number of occasions and the development of this pharmacy school amongst other items formed part of these discussions”.
In pointed criticism Senator Cummins said “The question I have for those who didn’t support the establishment of SETU is, do they honestly believe that we would have been successful in both of these bids for Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine as an Institute of Technology? I believe this announcement today further demonstrates the ability of the Technological University sector to compete equally with traditional universities for new course development. This announcement brings with it further capital investment and staffing to SETU and crucially it will retain talent within the region to work in pharma, clinical or community pharmacy settings.
In conclusion Senator Cummins said “I would like to compliment the President of SETU Professor Veronica Campbell and her team for all the work that has gone into achieving this favourable outcome today. All the lobbying in the world would not achieve a positive outcome unless the case stacks up and that comes down to the work of the course development team and management. I hope the awarding of this prestigious masters degree course is viewed as a further statement of intent by government. Contrary to what some may have said, the establishment of SETU marks a step change in Higher Education in the South East and I look forward to continuing my work with SETU and government colleagues into the future.