Waterford Regional Technical College
| Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Phort Láirge | |
 |
|
|
Former name
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Waterford Regional Technical College |
|---|---|
| Motto | Foirfe chun fónaimh |
|
Motto in English
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Perfect to Serve |
| Type | Public |
| Established | 1970 |
| Chairman | Richard Langford [1] |
| President | Prof. William Donnelly |
|
Academic staff
|
715 |
|
Administrative staff
|
395 |
| Students | 8,061 |
| Undergraduates | 7,208 |
| Postgraduates | 766 |
| Location | Waterford, Ireland |
| Colours | |
| Nickname | WIT |
| Website | www |
Waterford Institute of Technology (Irish: Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Phort Láirge) (WIT) is a state funded third-level educational freely available large scale institution situated in the city of Waterford, Ireland. The Institute has six Schools and offers programmes in Business, Engineering, Science, Health Sciences, Education & Humanities.
The institute opened in 1970 as a Regional Technical College and adopted its present name on May 7, 1997. The institute is currently headed by President Prof. Willie Donnelly.
At the time of the founding of the RTC, there were two other third-level institutions in the city, St John’s Seminary 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, Waterford’s then Member of Parliament, who was perhaps chosen unwisely as he was not influential in Parliament, having strong Napoleonic links (he married a niece of Napoleon I of France), being a Catholic and leaning towards an independent Ireland.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 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 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.
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Wikipedia