DkIT Receives €18.5m in Capital Investment for Major STEM Refurbishment

14 September 2018

Funding will support the renovation and upgrade of the North & South Blocks with significant impact for Science, Technology & Engineering Facilities at the Institute.

Friday 14th September, 2018. Dundalk, Ireland. Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) has today welcomed a €18.5m investment from the Department of Education & Skills in STEM facilities at the Institute. The capital funding will propel the Institute’s STEM provision with the expansion of available science and engineering laboratory space, the creation of an additional 760 places across industry-focused disciplines, as well as the enhancement of existing Business & Humanities facilities.

The investment forms part of a wider announcement by the Taoiseach and Ministers today which unveiled a major financial package in education under Project Ireland 2040, the government’s €116 billion investment and development plan for the next decade. DkIT was one of four Institutes of Technology (IOT) highlighted within the plan and received the largest capital funding figure of any other IOT nationwide.
Speaking today, DkIT President, Michael Mulvey PhD said,

We welcome this timely and important capital investment in DkIT which will allow us to transform existing facilities into a state-of-the-art science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) centre of excellence on campus. The new facility will benefit learners from undergraduate to PhD level, with proposed new laboratory facilities in food technology, chemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, biotechnology, agriculture and all engineering disciplines.”

Providing further comments on the announcement, he said:

With this investment we plan to significantly increase capacity on Applied Science and Engineering programmes, helping us to meet the growing demand from employers in our region for high-quality graduates in this area. Our region of North Leinster-South Ulster has been identified by the Government as an area of strategic importance in terms of regional development and strong growth over the next 10 years. In line with this, DkIT recently launched its AMBITION strategy which outlines our objective to scale student numbers across all part-time, postgraduate and undergraduate programmes over the next 4 years. Today’s announcement is an important milestone in our exciting phase of growth and brings us one step close to making our ambition a reality.”

The refurbishment project is expected to commence in 2019. Further details on the refurbishment plan will be released at a later stage.

To read the full press statement about wider package of investment in education under Project Ireland 2040 that was issued by the Department of Education, please click here.

ENDs.