European Investment Bank President, Dr Werner Hoyer, visited University College Dublin today to meet Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris and UCD Deputy President, Professor Mark Rogers and formally announce a €350m loan facility to support a number of key capital development projects on campus.
Educational projects that support the development of the knowledge economy in the European Union are one of the European Investment Bank’s key lending priorities. Over the past number of years the EIB has supported the Irish universities and this UCD loan facility is the largest to date.
UCD plans to increase faculty numbers by 50% and student numbers by 25% over the coming decade. The development of the UCD campus matches the EU’s focus on increasing investment in research and higher education and will strengthen UCD’s role in an increasingly competitive academic environment.
The UCD campus development plan exceeds €1billion and funding is to be sourced from the EIB facility as well as philanthropy, increased student numbers, loans and Government grants.
The following projects have been earmarked:
- The new Centre for Creativity: a landmark at the main entrance to UCD, this 12,600sqm Centre will foster the collision of ideas across disciplines and engagement between the University and the community. It will relocate Architecture and consolidate Engineering into the heart of the campus, offering state-of-the-art teaching facilities including studios and creative teaching suites.
- The new Centre for Future Learning: a high-tech 11,600 sqm building that places active learning at its core, incorporating formal, informal, group and individual spaces that students need to acquire and practice a wide range of skills It will be used by all UCD Colleges.
- A new extension to the O’Brien Centre for Science: This is phase 3 of the upgrading of science at UCD and includes the refurbishment of the Physics and Mathematics, Earth Sciences and Biology wings. Under the theme of Science in Data - Data in Science, this is a capstone project that will be the engine of teaching and research spanning health, ICT, environment and human wellbeing. This will be a world-class infrastructure, completing a facility of over 66,000 square metres for science.
- The complete refurbishment of the Newman building, which houses Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and the James Joyce Library. These are some of the oldest teaching buildings at Belfield.
- New and improved sporting facilities: to support student health and wellbeing through sport participation as well as elite sport, building on the strong tradition of UCD students in the international arena.
Dr Werner Hoyer, President EIB said: “It’s great to be back in Dublin and see at first-hand how investing in higher education is investing in the future.
The European Investment Bank is pleased to provide €350 million to support transformational investment at UCD’s Belfield campus through our largest ever financing for third level education in Ireland. The campus development will build on UCD’s world-class scientific, engineering and social science strengths and provide even better student health and sporting facilities.”
Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Simon Harris, welcomed the investment: “I really want to thank the European Investment Bank for the huge support they have given to the Higher Education sector here. It has helped the sector grow and expand.
“I really want to be here today to thank them for their support for this exciting project. It captures what a modern university can and should be – inclusive, innovative and ambitious. This will build on UCD’s world class campus and will importantly deliver for its students and the community it serves. I look forward to returning for the opening of the very many new or refurbished doors.”
Professor Mark Rogers, Deputy President of UCD said: “One of the enablers of the University’s Strategy to 2024 is to build world-class academic facilities and student amenities. We have more students and employees at UCD than ever before. To ensure that we have the facilities in place to accommodate the targeted increases in student and employee numbers, we must provide additional academic as well as sport and student amenities spaces. The funding facility provided by the EIB gives us the opportunity to achieve this objective.
We have planned our campus development to deliver a student experience that represents international best practice.
We are guided by our strategic themes to build an accessible, sustainable, healthy and digitally-enabled campus for our university and the wider community.
An exciting part of our plan is the Future Campus Masterplan, which in Phase 1 will deliver an iconic Centre for Creativity and a Centre for Future Learning. The UCD Centre for Creativity will be one of the most exciting pieces of modern architecture in Ireland and indeed in the world, making it a fitting frontispiece for the fabulous campus that is Belfield. In this way, we will make UCD a campus worthy of the people of Ireland and the world.”
The loan facility has been approved by the University Governing Authority and each of the projects is brought before the GA before construction.
Planning permission for the Centre for Creativity and the Centre for Future Learning has now passed through all phases and preparatory work has commenced.
University College Dublin
University College Dublin is Ireland’s largest university with approximately 30,000 students including almost 7,000 postgraduate and 5,000 international students. It offers the most comprehensive curriculum of any Irish university in pursuit of its threefold mission of teaching, research and innovation to the highest international standards.