WWETB Chief Executive Dr Karina Daly was delighted to welcome Minister James Lawless to Wexford last Friday to visit the site where he announced the planned development of an integrated research and teaching campus at Ballynagee, Wexford.
WWETB and SETU will work closely together to co-design the future of tertiary education on a shared campus.
(Tertiary education describes education for people above school age, including college, university, and further education and training courses)
James Lawless TD, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation, and Science, pictured with Dr Karina Daly, Chief Executive of Waterford and Wexford Education and Training Board (WWETB); Prof. Veronica Campbell, President of SETU; Prof. Patrick Prendergast, Chair of SETU’s Governing Body, and Cllr Joe Sullivan, Cathaoirleach of Wexford County Council alongside other key representatives from across Wexford County Council, SETU, and WWETB. Minister Lawless announced during the site visit to Wexford that WWETB and SETU are to explore opportunities associated with the development of a new contemporary tertiary campus on Wexford County Council owned lands at Ballynagee, Co Wexford. photo credit: Mary Browne
Why it matters
Dr Daly highlighted the significance of this announcement stating that:
“When Wexford College of Further Education and Training opened in 2023, WWETB’s message was clear: a need to move beyond the concept that ‘all roads lead to a big city’. Since then, it has been widely accepted that investing in the provision of education in the regions is the right thing to do, where it is easily accessible to learners and where there is often a better understanding of the needs of the region in terms of upskilling people to avail of employment opportunities.
With the development of the new tertiary strategy, credit must go to Minister Lawless and his Department for finding a better way to serve the needs of learners across the country – an integrated model where learners can move through education and training, appropriate to their own individual needs, for upskilling, for finding a job and just for living life.
By serving the needs of learners, we are also serving the needs of industry, our communities and our region. This commitment by WWETB and SETU to co-design the future of tertiary education on a shared campus in Wexford is exciting and will be transformative. It’s more than just about the campus – it’s about the shared vision and about doing the right thing for learners across the region. I look forward to working with the Department, SOLAS, the HEA and Dr Campbell and her team to ensure that the tertiary strategy is fully realised here in Wexford town.”
WWETB is also the patron of the new secondary school that is planned for the same campus at Ballynagee, Wexford and WWETB is also managing the build of a new primary school, with Educate Together as patron. When the entire infrastructural project is complete at Ballynagee, the site will be the first example in the country of the co-location of education and training from primary through to higher education.