The University Times

Edmund Heaphy | Deputy Editor

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Provost Patrick Pendergast launched Trinity’s new five-year strategic plan at an event in the Exam Hall this afternoon. The plan, published earlier today, focuses particularly on a reformed undergraduate curriculum, funding, and Trinity’s place in the world.

The Provost remarked that the plan “lays out [Trinity’s] mission, values, goals and actions for the next five years”, saying that the plan was “ambitious and achievable” and that they had “consulted widely” before developing the plan. The Taoiseach said that the plan mirrors the government’s aims for the higher-education sector, saying that universities should become more “performance orientated”.

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In reference to the economic crisis that has thrown the higher education sector into a wide search for options to diversify funding, the Provost said that “the past five years have been difficult for all working in higher education”, but that “the signs of economic recovery were palpable.”

The Provost said Trinity “planned for an expanded vision in education through innovation and entrepreneurship, research and scholarship, capital developments and an expansion of student numbers.” The Provost also discussed various parts of the plan, including how disciplines in the College need to have a greater “economic and social impact”, and the new student residents announced at the Provost Q&A two weeks ago. He also again referenced the plan’s goals of doubling the international student numbers in the next five years.

The Taoiseach said: “I want to see the higher-education sector become more performance orientated”, saying that it should become “more responsive” and should have more “diversity in terms of its mission”. He said the strategic plan reflected those objectives and that he was glad the plan mirrored the government’s own strategy for higher education.

The Taoiseach was presented with a 1659 Area Map of Mayo by the Provost. The map, compiled as part of the Down Survey in which Professor Micheál Ó Siochrú from the History department played a part, is the earliest engraved map of county Mayo, made a year after the death of Oliver Cromwell.

During the event, Vice-Provost and Chief Academic Officer, Linda Hogan, outlined the objectives of the plan, which include a heavy focus on diversification of funding, anticipating a further decrease in exchequer funding, increased student enrolment plans, and propose greater links with industry in terms of research. The plan also reaffirms the College’s focus on the identity initiative.