The Head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, visited Trinity today, speaking to students involved in Launchbox’s summer accelerator programme.
In a tweet posted by Trinity, Lagarde is pictured speaking to BESS student Nathan Misischi and law student Ciara Hennessy. Msischi and Hennessy are part of the team at Dockit, which is a new Trinity-based company that makes it easier for waiters and waitresses to take orders.
Lagarde came to Dublin to take part in a discussion on education and innovation in Dublin City University (DCU). After a tour of DCU Alpha, the college’s innovation campus, Lagarde addressed audiences in Helix theatre on the Irish education landscape, focussing on innovation, inclusion and diversity.
RTÉ reported that Lagarde said that the same “external shocks” affecting the economy also had an impact on education and that Ireland should prepare for these. She spoke about the importance of developing new areas of learning. “We can’t produce the same graduates and PhDs as we did years ago”, she said.
Lagarde called for increased public spending on research, but added that institutions and companies that benefit from universities should also contribute to their funding. She was joined by President of DCU Prof Brian MacCraith for the discussion.
Yesterday Lagarde opened a two-day conference in the Central Bank, entitled “The Euro at 20”. Speaking at the opening, Lagarde called on the EU to increase regulation of financial firms relocating to Ireland. “We meet at a moment when the EU and euro area are in the midst of difficult decisions about their future. Populist movements – from Brexit to the recent Italian elections – have called into question the value of European integration”, she said.
Last year, Lagarde was ranked the eighth most powerful one in the world by Forbes. Lagarde took on the helm of the IMF in 2011. In 2016, she began her second five-year term in the role. Prior to this she served as the first woman Finance and Economy Minister of a G7 country when she took on the role in the French government in June 2007.
